


Engulf

by Tsuukai



Series: Inthrall [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Career, Bottom Aomine, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-12 02:45:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2092695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsuukai/pseuds/Tsuukai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aomine and Kagami have to work in close quarters for the case, but neither can help reading more into it than normal.</p>
<p>Continues directly after the Tendering Series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Engulf

**Author's Note:**

> Er...ignore any of the inaccuracies? Because I surely did. '^^

 

Kagami looked up from checking his self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) when he heard his name being called. A towering man, which said something compared to Kagami’s height—stood at the entrance to the stationhouse with a large scowl on his face, overtaking what little passable features he could call his own. Putting his things aside and dusting his hands, Kagami quickly crossed the empty apparatus bay and saluted the man.

“I heard something from someone,” the man started to say, crossing his bulging arms against an impressively built set of pectorals popping out at Kagami’s face in a threatening manner. Looking as though it would not bode well for him, he went through any and all possible reasons he could have been called up by the station master. The elder man was usually kindly in a sense, high morals and respectful, but when it came to their house being slandered, he did not budge a millimetre. “That you broke up a fight between some police brat and Kawasaki.”

Kagami traced each tooth of his upper jaw slowly, keeping a slack face to his superior.

“And someone told me that the police brat is having an issue with the department so I should really look into getting Kawasaki to file a complaint about it. Heckling, that someone is saying,” the man started to tap a heavy-booted foot, the _thump thump_ resonating with his own beating heart. Kagami waited until he was sure he could speak without cutting off his superior.

“Sir, that police…brat and I will be going over some older case files because he has brought to our attention a possible serial arsonist that has managed to remain under our radar,” Kagami tries to keep his voice steady, even if he does want to retort that despite Kawasaki being the prized inspector on their lot, he was still young and inexperienced, and Aomine was still a whole lot more sharper when it came to his instincts. Kagami had spent three years fighting head-on with the other’s skill and he trusted it more than he trusted Kawasaki, no matter how decently he wrote up his reports all to a T.

A raised eyebrow was his only response. Kagami did not budge; he felt he made an accurate decision by offering his expertise on the subject and it definitely would not hurt to check and make sure that Aomine was not overly paranoid being stuck in his division.

“Under _our_ radar?” was finally exasperated. “How is that even possible?!”

Stiffening his neck unconsciously, Kagami replied, “I’m going to make sure of it, sir.” And to save him from some more hassle, Aomine’s dark head popped at the side of the bay doors, glancing about. “He’s arrived sir, so I’ll best be on my way and get this sorted out.”

His superior looks over at a fidgeting Aomine, standing tall with his hands in his pockets, smartly dressed in his uniform but holding his standard issued cap under his right arm as he looked down his nose at the empty bay. Narrowed eyes were taking in everyone sitting inside, either chatting or playing a few card games or checking their equipment, some helping the EMTs and a few others ribbing at the new comers. There was much less noise since Kagami had arrive before his shift started so the roughhousing that was taking place earlier was quickly stamped out and dispersed, leaving only those required to teach the newbies the ropes.

“Make sure he doesn’t start another fight,” he said to Kagami.

Frowning, he decided to play sides by informing his superior wryly, “He doesn’t start fights. He’s usually goaded into it.”

His superior took it for face value, eyes still on Aomine, and he laughed. Shaking his head, he moved back inside, probably to torment the pushover they had for a Lieutenant.

Kagami minded him for a few more seconds before turning to glance at Aomine who was staring straight at him, a curve to his mouth that did not pass as a smile or a scowl. Shrugging his shoulders, he beckoned him only to see previous sharp shoulders hunch. Eyes narrowed, he watched as Aomine stiffly sauntered over, hands on his belt now, and came to stop two feet away.

“I don’t do office sex,” he said as way of greeting.

Suddenly getting why the man was acting oddly, Kagami leered, “You’ll do anything if I want you to, though.” Then let out a low chuckle at the bristling. “Come in and follow me.”

 

* * *

 

They spent around two hours going over each incident report carefully, mapping out the occurrences, what were common in each fire, the owners of the places ‘hit’ and even the people affected by the blowouts of the resulting fire. Even if it was ruled as a kitchen fire, they were not writing them off until they were sure it had nothing to do with the four cases Aomine had pegged as part of the serial arsonist’s handiwork.

“This is the last of it,” Kagami stated, pushing the file he was going over to Aomine who had been bent over the large desk, his head almost touching the surface. He had been wondering for a while with the man’s posture wondering if using all his concentration and hard work was supposed to be depicted in the uncomfortable form. Aomine had a huge furrow on his forehead as well, and Kagami had the inkling that just concentration was not making it. “Aomine…” he called, waiting for narrowed blue eyes to look up from the file, “I’ve been wondering for a while now, but…are you far sighted?”

Aomine sputtered. “What are you talking about?!” He snapped.

Kagami stood up and walked to one of the filing cabinets in the room, opening one of the drawers. He rifled for a while before he pulled out a few stacked cards that, after brandishing a particular one, stretched out his arm in front of the bewildered Aomine and asked, “Can you read the second last line?”

Aomine frowned, jerking his head back and away to physically refuse to play whatever game Kagami was initiating.

Instead, Kagami waved his hand. “Or any of the text on the card?”

Scowling, “Of course I can! The last two are just too small for me to read from so far!”

Kagami’s eyebrows moved up slightly before resuming their place on his brow, putting the card back in its original place. “This is called a Jaeger’s Eye Chart and we use it sometimes to make sure we aren’t affected by the smoke. But its actual usage is in determining if you are farsighted by an optometrist.”

“Opto-what?”

“An optician?” Kagami tried. “So have you checked your eyes at all, aho?”

There was a pause in the air, and Kagami waited for the blowout because that was just something he knew Aomine ended all opposition to his superiority, that he was taken by surprise when the man reached into his pocket to slowly withdraw a case.

A spectacles case.

“Hm?”

Glowering like it would save the world, Aomine snapped it wide and pulled out the sleek silver framed set that he whipped open to place it delicately on his scrunched nose, feeling putout. “Go on, laugh.”

Kagami did not know why the other was embarrassed.

“Do you wear this at work?”

Shifting in his seat, Aomine looked away. “Sometimes, when it’s late and there’s no one around.”

With a rumble deep in his chest, Kagami ordered, “Yea, that’s good. Don’t show that look to anyone else.” Aomine snapped his face back to him, mouth agape in shock. “You heard me.” Kagami walked around the table, shutting the open conference door with his foot and locking it simultaneously, he sat on the corner of the table closest to the baffled Aomine even if dark blue eyes watched him in anticipation. “And forget whatever pet peeves you have against office sex. That’s not going to blow over with that look on your face.”

As usual, Aomine licked his shaking lips, a sliver of teeth showing as a small grin lit his face. “And what look is that?”

“That look,” Kagami confirmed, pointing at his face first before reaching over to grab hold of the dark skinned neck to jerk Aomine’s face up, “which is saying it wants to eat me up.” Leering, he added, “Well go on, I won’t stop that filthy mouth of yours.”

Aomine chuckled, reaching over muscular thighs, resting on them as he gazed up; gone was the embarrassed face to be replaced by the extremely erotic one. “Ohh?” he echoed out, “Won’t stop me, huh?”

Kagami’s hand moved to allow his thick thumb to trace Aomine’s bottom lip, hooking at the side and pulling it open. “I did say that, didn’t I?” Warm saliva pooled in the unhinged lip, oozing out slowly to drip around the curve of a smooth surface and against the ridges of his thumb. Kagami watched, mouth dry, at the shiny path it made down the side of Aomine’s chin. “Come now, let’s not waste all that spit you love generating.” Smirking, he watched as Aomine almost attacked his pelvis.

There was no foreplay needed, it seemed, when Aomine hardly waited to unzip his dark pants and pull him out of tight boxer briefs, not even stopping to admire the curve of the pulsating organ before hot wet lips started to lather it with spit. Kagami knew the reason for utmost haste, but he slowed the man down by drawing slow circles on his exposed nape. Aomine hummed as he took him in his mouth, the pleasing vibrations travelling up and into his groin. What had been at half-mast now sailed full, his cock as red as his hair was.

Aomine used both hands, one reaching under to his ball sac, lightly fondling them, while his other hand fisted him at the base, his mouth on the other end, sucking with so much force as if it were an extended straw to a drink Aomine was dying to taste.

As amused as he was of the thought, Kagami groaned out loud and long as Aomine took more of him in, his guise of slowly learning how to acclimatise deep-throating after the last failed attempt. Aomine must have been mightily mortified of himself to be risking it again, no matter how little he was actually taking in his mouth. Kagami figures that after the one time he manages to get him off, Aomine will forever hold the image in his head, victorious.

Though, as the man continued to lavish attention on him, Kagami also figured letting loose once in a while was a good method of ‘treating’ Aomine; if the dark skinned man was not justly rewarded, he tended to strut upon his high horse reminiscent of his High School days and Kagami was too old (and bored) of that rerun, so letting the man swallow the spunk he so wanted to be the cause of…who was Kagami to deny?

The familiar heat and coiling building up made Kagami tense in the pliant, all-teeth not tucked away blowjob he was getting administered, his fingers curling around soft thin hair so that he could grip it tightly to hold in place. Aomine looked up at the pressure, eyebrows meeting each other in a form of concern (probably to his early balding) and darkened eyes peering out of those glasses made Kagami tighten even more.

Feeling it, Aomine put more effort in sucking and using his tongue on the underside, trying to add pressure against the thick vein that twitched and pulsed in rhythm to his ministrations, his hand tightening its grip around Kagami. He hummed around it, knowing it made Kagami feel good, which was shown in the spreading of thick muscular thighs to give him more room to work his mouth. Aomine took more of the cock in, applying pressure via his lips, his teeth grazing the thin hot skin on the organ, the heated tip lightly brushing the roof of his mouth shy of his throat.

He hummed again.

Kagami clenched his fist around the strands he held hostage, bringing Aomine closer to his crotch, glasses fogged up by the warmth that was escalating quickly. As his nose touched the redheaded pubis, Aomine choked at the sensation of Kagami touching the back of his throat. The tensing of the cock and the tightening of his scrotum was all the warning Aomine got, burning fingers in his hair pushing him minutely into Kagami’s crotch further.

A deep, guttural moan filled the room as Kagami spilled out thick spurts into a mouth that did not know if it wanted to gulp it down or spit it out on the owner’s face. Not having much of a choice—Kagami’s hand moved neigh a muscle away—Aomine waited with tearing eyes as the redhead’s hips jerked upwards to ride out the wave of his orgasm.

Ripping himself away without caring that his teeth scratched Kagami or not, Aomine coughed out whatever he could onto the floor. Shuffling was the only other sound in the room. A warm hand patting his head where it had been pulled just recently, stroking down to his neck and then to his back where it remained to run smooth comforting circles. Aomine could not help but concentrate on that warm hand even as his body was threatening to displace a lung and maybe even his only stomach for making him do something his pride usually should not be subjugated to.

Aomine ignored that pride of his, though; chances were that Kagami did not know it was bruised.

Wiping his lips with the back of his hand, he used the other to push his fogged glasses up, watching through the receding fog as Kagami’s tilted head was parallel to his own. Steady red eyes watched him, assessing, before the man straightened up. “I’ll get you some water.”

Before Aomine could protest, Kagami was already out of the door. Though the gesture was nice, it was making Aomine feel funny things in his stomach, and wondered strangely if cum could give you indigestion. Patting his abdomen in a soothing manner, Kagami returned to place a plastic cup on the table. “Here,” a baritone command given, “This should make you feel better.”

Taking a sip, Aomine’s face scrunched at the warm temperature of the water, but he did not complain because it did not aggravate the feeling in his mouth. Before he could ask for maybe a slightly colder glass, a can of pop was placed at his elbow.

Aomine stared at it.

“Thanks,” Kagami spoke to the childishly smiling youth wearing a volunteering t-shit. “Aren’t you heading with the others for the run?”

“Yes, sir,” the youth replied, impishly bowing his head despite his eyes drifting to Aomine’s. Aomine glared back, uncomfortable at the adoring stare, and glanced away, missing how the young man flinched. “We’re waiting on the truck to return from its maintenance check then we’ll be out.”

Kagami nodded, his back still facing Aomine, but he shifted on his perch on the table so that Aomine was forced to only have the broad back for his view.

He scowled.

“Now go on, I have to finish off with Aomine- _junsa_ and then clock in.”

 The youth nodded. “Ok, got it, _chūi_ ,” he saluted, lips twitching as he moved away, Kagami frowning after him. With a quick huff, Kagami stood up and indicate that Aomine should follow after him again.

“Lieutenant?” Aomine asked of him, falling in step as he briefly adjusted his pant, mood far away from what it was previously.

Kagami shrugged. “I was told to do the exam.”

Aomine did not buy it. “And? Why didn’t you mention it?”

Split red eyebrows rose up. “Hm? Why should I?” He nodded wordlessly to other firemen in the vicinity, getting greetings in all forms as the two passed the doors to outside. “’sides, that’s their passive aggressive way of telling me to get it over with.”

“Oh,” Aomine sighed, for some inexplicit reason—to him at least—glad that Kagami was not a lieutenant yet. He frowned, another 180 to his moods, wondering what was up with him. What did the man’s title have anything to do with him of all people?!

Pushing the thoughts away, Aomine waved half-heartedly at Kagami, leaving the redhead to stare at his retreating back as he walked alone out of the bay.

 

 


	2. Consuming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>   
> **He spends more time thinking about interacting with him than doing his job. What is this feeling and why was it consuming him so quickly, so thoroughly?**

Kagami watched the flames receding too slowly for his comfort. The soot in the air made it difficult for any of the stragglers to be allowed within a few feet of the safe zone, and the site in-charge was pushing the zone further back. Kagami agreed it was a good choice but from where he stood he could not see any of their faces. It was already late evening and the sun had set ages ago. The street lamp in the section they corded off sustained damage to the point where the fire truck had to beam its lights until proper measures could be provided by way of the aerial ladder truck.

Since he had been one of the first to go in, Kagami had already been tagged out twenty minutes ago. The third wave of fire-fighters was replacing the second wave now, and he could not help but reach for the radio in the car he was resting against. He thumbed the black mike, considering, the sounds of the water pump and the radio messily crashing against each other behind him. The chaos was expected, the organisation of controlling each and every movement invisible to those who did not understand, but to him it was so obvious and well executed, he felt sick to his stomach.

It did not take much then, to open a line with the operator. “This is Sergeant Kagami,” he called out loud over the roaring noise to be heard. As the operator connected to his line, he requested, “Connect me to the TMPD. I need to speak to Officer Aomine Daiki.”

“Please wait one moment, sir. I will connect you immediately,” the woman on the other end said politely, words in a rush. It was not even a few seconds later another operator came on the line and Kagami had to repeat himself.

“Aomine here,” came the lacklustre voice. Kagami almost smirked at the attitude if he had nothing else to do now.

“Aomine,” Kagami spoke, “do you think you can come to 2-2-10 Gōtokuji now?”

“Kagami?” Aomine’s tone was indiscernible over the radio line. “And why am I supposed to come there? The hell are you calling from?”

“There’s been another fire, and we had to push back the safe zone. I can’t leave my post and I can’t send anyone to observe.” He paused. “Isn’t this the case you wanted to bust wide open?”

Aomine sighs heavily. “Damn you, Kagami. I’m nowhere  _near_  2-chome, forget the station.” There are other sounds on the line that Kagami does not recognise. “I’ll be there in fifteen.”

“Sure.” He forgets to radio out, dropping the mike easily into the seat as he stares across the darkened view of the burning residence. The knots in his stomach are tight and large and unforgiving.

 

* * *

 

Aomine travels the remaining distance by foot.

He had to park far from where he was called, the roads leading inside the residential area narrow and small, so if there was need to push more rescue vehicles through, he did not want to be the reason they were delayed by even one second.

It was odd of him to think about other people first rather than his own comfort. He could have easily rounded the corner and parked closest to the scene; possibly even in the safe zone while onlookers watched the burning fire he could see from where he was, walking towards it. But for some reason, against his usual misgivings, he trekked the distance with his hands shoved in his pockets, out of uniform.

He had been leaving for home when his phone connected to Kagami via the operator, and instead of telling the man off, here he was, pretending to be one of the stragglers, watching the blaze rise high up in the darkening sky, beautiful flecks of gold, reds and oranges littering the skies like stars. With a queasy feeling—those flecks could have been burnt corpses for all he knew—Aomine cranked his neck, lazily taking in the people that had remained after the firemen had pushed them almost a block away from the fire outbreak.

There were more men out, a few teenagers, and even fewer women with children. The little tykes were watching the frenzy with awe spattering their expressions, eyes dancing as they take in everything the firemen were doing. Aomine flicked his eyes towards those rescue workers too, and tried to see if he could glimpse Kagami from all the way out here. Chances were low, even if he had his helmet off; the reds of the flames and the heat waves caused made even brunettes look like redheads from far. There were a few waiting firemen, standing aside from the line of entry, that could have been Kagami, and one was leaning against a fire marshal’s car, but the shape was all wrong.

Tearing his eyes away, Aomine instead concentrated on those around him, struggling to keep his mind on the job.

There were three men beside him, craning their necks and talking amongst themselves, but the half-polite language they were using indicated they were strangers, none knowing the other past standing in the same vicinity as each other. Aomine took in their hair colour, their slanted eyes (one had a double eyelid line) and they ranged from the ages 20 to 30. The older looking one was wearing a mediocre suit, jacket off and draped over an arm, clutching tightly at a briefcase as though sparks form the fire that was almost being well under control now, would jump across the many feet in between and set it ablaze, too. Aomine dropped his gaze to the man’s feet, in the dim light trying to see any traces of dirt or smudges of non-dried liquid present on him.

Not finding any, Aomine turned to the other two. They were too casually dressed, maybe on the way to the convenience store, but neither had a plastic bag in their hands or around their wrists. Tilting his head slightly, there were no bulging pockets or stained finger smears. One had a pack of cigarettes in his hand—possibly his lighter was inside the box too—but on the overall impression, the man did not fit the profile they had drawn up of the perpetrator.

Aomine looked before him, at two young girls, dressed flashily as if coming back from a late evening out and just happened upon a horrible street to be going home. They were ashen faced, staring open-mouthed at the scene, small eyes wide and blinking, taking in everything they can without really wanting to. Their manicured nails were still precise, the pinks and diamantes, coloured rhinestones gracing the art still stuck on it; they wore sequined flats, shiny in the dark street, and their demure figures shook in them.

Aomine held his breath, not wanting to sigh out, ignoring the lone mother and child—the woman was shooing her sobbing infant—and turned to see the pair of boys gazing wide-eyed. He made a note of them, knowing he has seen them playing in the nearby park, and kept that information to the forefront as he turned to see anyone else on his side of the barricade.

A large, stretched shadow fell on them then, and without needing to see, he knew it was Kagami. He does not know why he knows it, but he does, and something warm from inside him grows. It is not due to the heat of the fire—that was burning the air dry at the moment—and distinctly he wonders if it is his depraved mind already thinking about wanting to be touched by the approaching redhead.

“Everyone,” Kagami’s deep tenor politely called out to the people. “We’re sorry to keep you waiting. If you are not residents to the building or the ones at 3 and 5, could you please follow me around here?” Kagami opened up the plastic tape, and with a wide arching gesture, led them around the edges of the safety zone. As he was turning his back to Aomine, Kagami caught his eyes.

“Thanks,” he said, nodding.

Aomine waved him off, slinking further into his disinterested pose, and with outwardly boredom, watched as Kagami turned fully and walked away. Staring at him was nothing more than passing time, he assured himself, eyes dancing like the flames licking the last of the dry surfaces before the hose wet the area and killed the flame.

Aomine wishes he could be that way, too.

 

* * *

 

Lunch time rush was something Kagami had yet to get used to, so he preferred having no afternoon schedules to boggle his mind. It made to do that because he was free then, meeting up with Aomine for lunch was expected and not something he should have been giving grief about, courtesy of a scowling Aomine.

“I have a tonne of paperwork I need to submit and you are calling me out for lunch?!” Aomine demanded.

Kagami scoffed. “When did you ever care about being on time?” he resumed his trek to the inner districts of the neighbourhood where he had heard about a quiet family restaurant. Being rush hour, they might have an issue, but Kagami wanted to check it out nonetheless since it was closer to the fire from last night. Thinking he could chat up the locals around, he had geared up in his off-site uniform consisting of his dark blue uniform pants with the Tokyo Fire Department (TFD) t-shirt tucked into his pants as was custom.

Aomine glanced at his clothes. “Why’s your t-shirt different?” It was true; unlike the usual large medallion sporting the red and white sign with Tokyo written on it, and the usual yellow text in both kanji and English stating Tokyo Fire Department. A stylised green handshake with the yellow and orange JF IRT above it was printed on the front left breast.

“Hm?” Kagami glanced down.

“This t-shirt is different,” to Kagami, Aomine was sounding more and more annoyed, as though not understanding everything about the redhead was pushing him off the cliff with unease.

“I don’t get it. This is my usual t-shirt.” He plucked the right fabric off his abdomen, snapping it back into place. Aomine’s lazy hooded eyes stared for a second too long, before they darted up to Kagami’s face.

“What’s IRT?”

“International Rescue Team?” Kagami watched as Aomine’s frown overtook his face. He would have laughed, but then out of nowhere, he was tackled off his feet. Before Kagami could help him up, loud cheering and noises took over the peaceful neighbourhood street.

 “Ah! It’s Ao-niichan!” a kid shouted, pointing at the felled Aomine. Kagami glanced over his shoulder for a second, then with the same motion looked over at Aomine, cocking an eyebrow at the scene.

Aomine chortled, getting up only to hunker back down to their eyelevel and grinned widely. “Well if it isn’t the brats from 4-chōme!”

One kid smirked then. “Nope, I moved over to baa-chan’s side, near the super.”

“Oh!” Aomine looked impressively interested, sharp blue eyes recording everything the children were saying, and appropriately chatting back. It was a side Kagami had never seen before—Aomine just looked the type to really hate all types of children—so he continued staring, interested.

“And you were near there? How scary!” he crowed, eyes wide.

The kid laughed. “Nah, not really. But there was this small man who looked super irritated that the place was blocked.”

Suddenly, snapping back to the conversation, Kagami understood.

Aomine chatting up the youngsters who spoke tales to anyone who would listen, exaggerate anything that would attract attention, and he would be up-to-date with information around the block. No one really looked to children whose simple minds and tall tales would be taken seriously by a police officer, and maybe figuring that out, Aomine secretly asking these children questions was not out of scope for the continuously surprising male.

No sooner that Aomine was ambushed, did the children wave their goodbyes and run down the street, barely stopping at junctions to check if the course was clear. Aomine called out a warning, and instead of sticking out their tongues like Kagami expected them to do, they stilled, looked sheepish, bowed their heads and slowed down their space.

Kagami was too impressed to open his mouth so he simple lead the way to the restaurant. “I’ll pick up your tab today.” The crowing delight from Aomine was not needed. “Shut up before I change my mind.”

Before they could enter the establishment—Kagami was glad he could see empty spaces—Aomine’s receiver picked up a call. A frustrated scowling noise was emitted before Aomine flipped the receiver off, glared at it, and then took it, excusing himself in order to be polite. From the reflection of the glass door, Kagami watched a heated Aomine mince out words with the operator, no doubt relaying that Aomine was required to come back.

“Seems that you really couldn’t leave, huh?” Kagami said as Aomine came back to his side. He leaned against the glass surface, uncaring that they were blocking the entrance, a waitress inside fluttering from one corner of her receiving desk to another, nervously wondering what the two of them were doing. Catching her eyes, Kagami tried to smile politely, but the young girl turned an embarrassed red colour, ducking her head out of side.

“Sorry,” Aomine looked put off, and for some reason, even if Kagami could care less if Aomine was having lunch with him or not, a heavy feeling was sinking in his body. The apology from the other man made it seem lighter—it looked as though even Aomine would miss having lunch with him—so Kagami gallantly tried to wave if off.

Before Aomine left, he paused, turning around to stare at Kagami.

Looking straight back at him, Kagami cocked an eyebrow.

“You’re done tomorrow afternoon, right?” Aomine asked.

“Nah, I’ve got a single shift today since I worked two shifts last night. I’m off tomorrow.” Kagami shrugged at the petulant look he received, and when the silence extended its comfortable stretch, he asked, “What is it?”

Aomine shuffled his feet, hands in his pockets. From where he could see, those hands were curled tight, his knuckles prominent through his tight pants. “…Could I drop by?”

Kagami jerked in surprise, arms dropping from their fold. “Why?”

Aomine huffed, turning around and stomping away. “No reason, I’ll be off!” he snapped.

Kagami waited until the man reached the end of the street, amused, before he called out, “I’ll be back by eleven.”

Aomine’s hunched shoulder told him that his message was received. Kagami could not be more amused. Despite the situation, at least his life outside work was never dull, thanks to Aomine.

* * *

 

Aomine shrugs off the covers, a cold draft cooling his heated skin, and stood up. He stretched his arms above his head as high as they would go, cracking his neck at the same time, moving away from the futon and loomed over the redhead sleeping peacefully in bed. It was not fair that when Aomine was sleeping on the floor, twisting and turning and for all being uncomfortably awake, Kagami was blissfully unaware of what he was making Aomine go through.

Wanting to kick the man, he harrumphed, swivelled on his sole and stalked outside, the lush carpet he threaded masking what could have been loud stomps.

Kagami was so lucky he was feeling megalomaniacal this wretched early morning.

He had arrived the previous night sometime before eleven, thinking at the most he would be let in twenty minutes from then, only to spend the cold wait for two hours before an extremely sombre Kagami sauntered stiffly down the hallway towards him. There was hardly a greeting before Kagami opened his door, leaving it ajar so that Aomine could follow.

With a frown, he had, cautiously entering and wondering if it would be too late to tun back home. He did not want to deal with the hot-tempered man, since his moods were never short, and calling them long would be an understatement; his tempers could switch on and off without a word, and while erotic to an extent, matching Kagami’s pace was exhausting. Honestly, all Aomine wanted was a quick, steamy roll in the sack so that come morning, he could be on his way to his own life.

Kagami stripped off his t-shirt, draping it across his left shoulder as he headed to the kitchen, pulling the large fridge doors open. He glanced at it for a second, and as though remembering Aomine existed, casually asked, “Will a beer do?”

Aomine made a noncommittal noise, and soon found himself snatching a cold beer out of the air. Nervous fingers traced the top of the bottle, fingertips feeling every ridge, but his eyes were on Kagami’s bare back facing him until the redhead turned around. The man moved towards him then, face slack from any expression, and soon, he was within smelling distance. A hot palm brushed against his ear and cheek. Before Aomine could lean into the unusual gesture, Kagami was already leaning into his face, nipping at his lower lip, saying, “I’m too tried for you tonight. Since you’re already here, I’ll lay out the futon.”

Aomine’s eyes widen as Kagami left him standing dead centre of the apartment, blinking rapidly in time to process what just happened. His throat was constricting around the words he wanted to scream out to the redhead, call him names for leading him on when—taking a calming breath—realised that Kagami had never promised him anything.

Aomine had wanted to drop in and he was allowed that.

Would it have been different if he had stopped the man and asked him to reconsider, Aomine wondered, but steeling himself from sounding like a wanton seductress, pursed his lips as his eyes followed Kagami into his room. With a heavy thread, Aomine abandoned the unopened beer bottle on a nearby surface—he could not care at this point—and humbly entered the darkened abode.

The fire within his loins remained burning, unsated, keeping him awake until he could take it no more.

 

* * *

 

Kagami blearily opened his eyes when he heard the noises coming from outside his room. Living alone meant it was always dead quiet and any minute sound was out of place. He frowned, blinking rapidly to rid himself of the dregs of sleep, leaning on his palm as he pushed himself up. He stared blankly around his room, not finding anything out of place. Sitting up straight, he caught the edge of the futon he had for guests, knowing it had been a while since—

Kagami moved forward, looking over the edge of his bed and the empty futon. Confused—he always took Aomine for being a lazy ass in the morning especially—he pulled his slumbering body off the bed and blearily looked at the bedspread. Without needing to touch it, he could tell it was cold. Just in case though, he squatted, running a hand across the surface, at which the end of his run his fingers managed to drift into the folded edge of the covers. He paused, letting the cold feeling seep into his digits.

“Didn’t he sleep at all?” he mumbled to himself, heaving up to his full height, stretching and yawning, aimlessly making his way out. His jaw cricked for how long he yawned, and massaging his jaw, Kagami smacked his lips, threading the short corridor to the living room and kitchen area where the noise that woke him up grew louder. Almost waiting to see a mess in his space, Kagami was not prepared for the sight that awaited him.

Any lingering sleep was blown out the window.

From where he stood he admired the sharp curve of the bare back, dipping low and deep into a concave hollow of his lumbar before the waistband of the man’s underwear peeked out over the pants he had worn haphazardly around his hips. The muscle on his lower limbs pushed his ass enough to emphasise the slight V of muscle running all the way up to his shoulder blades, shaping his back on a whole. Kagami licked his lips as he thought about placing his hand on that slender back, in comparison to his own, and pushing him down on the counter.

Without realising it, his feet had already taken him across to the kitchen, the noises growing even louder; Aomine was making some type of bachelor breakfast. The only saving grace was that the mess was minimal and something he would make the other clean up before he left. Kagami rolled his eyes at the thought of trying to eat it, hands already stretched out to grab the man by his waist. Aomine jumped up and into the counter edge, growling as he turned his head back.

“Fucker,” he greeted, resuming his culinary work, thinking Kagami would leave him alone now that he had successfully crept up on him. Yet, the shivers running up his spine when the redhead placed both thumbs just above his gluteal cleft and roughly dragged them upwards on his lumbar vertebrae, said otherwise. An unheeded groan followed the action, and immediately he slapped a palm against his mouth.

“Good morning to you too,” Kagami murmured, dropping his forehead on the hunched set of shoulders, watching the slight tremors created run across the smooth back. He moved his hands further up, twisting them to run parallel to Aomine’s spine so that his fingertips brushed the tops of his low riding underwear. A lewd smile curved his lips; he forced his fingers past the elastic band with his nails and left the other man’s spine to take handfuls of his ass. “Up for some morning exercise? I woke up too late for a run.”

“Fuck you,” Aomine grumbled, arching into Kagami’s touch nevertheless.

Kagami shifted, slowing increasing the pressure on the globes and spreading them apart as he leaned onto Aomine. He turned his face into the crook of Aomine’s neck, kissing it upwards to his jaw and then to his ear where he trailed his tongue against the soft flesh of earlobe. Aomine was shivering with suppressed emotion now. Kagami took the lobe in his mouth, sucking and nipping it in intervals before releasing it, he said, “Well, that’s the plan. Only I’ll,” he emphasised, pushing harder on Aomine’s spreading bottom, “be doing you.”

The guttural noise rising from his throat changed midway as it turned to a whine; Kagami pushed down the only clothes left on Aomine and trailed the cleft with his thumbs, lightly rubbing against his anus. Aomine tried to move away from the feathering touches, but every time he moved away just allowed Kagami to move in further. In the end, Kagami was spreading Aomine’s legs off the floor and forcing the slimmer man to brace himself on the counter with his palms.

“Stop it,” Aomine whined, awfully half-hearted for the amount he was rising to the work Kagami was doing on his ass. “It’s too early for your shit.”

A loud smack against his bare flesh elicited a shocked gasp. “That’s not what your body is saying.” Kagami paused, removing one hand away to trail against Aomine’s back, rubbing the minute muscles along his spine until he got to the top, his palm placed in between both shoulder blades and fingertips digging into the crook of his neck. “…But if you really don’t want it, I can always take care of myself in the bath.”

Kagami’s tone was less teasing and more serious, and Aomine recognised it for what it was worth quickly. The redhead had a bad habit of following through with his threats and Aomine hated being the one pulling on the shorter sticks all the time. Before he could voice his disconcertion, Kagami was already leaning into his spread apart cheeks, and the hard point he felt was the still restrained cock.

Aomine moaned, unbidden, already imagining the heat and fullness of the appendage in him, and almost could not wait for it to be in him. He licked his lips.

“…Are you going to do me bare backed?”

Kagami stilled behind him. Worried that the questioned flared warning signs of all sorts of things, Aomine was already turning his head around to inform the other he was clean—“I’ve only been done by you,” he almost wants to quip—but the deep seated red haze that he catches dries his mouth and throat. He cannot even gulp down in fear. Kagami was giving him a look he has not seen before and probably would not be able to understand either. His eyelids were drooped, dark drying blood red pools stared straight into his very being, and feeling more exposed than he has in front of Kagami (even more so their first time), Aomine is scared of the thoughts running behind that stare.

“And what if I am?” Kagami asks him, pressing into Aomine and pushing him further down. Unable to hold himself up longer with the added weight, Aomine lowered himself as slowly as he could without letting his palms slip on the counter and smacking him in the face. Aomine shivered at the tone, wanting to tear away from those red eyes, but the gripping hollow void that they were becoming sucked him in without consent. Aomine felt like he was drowning.

Kagami pushed at him again. He jerked forward, now hitting his hipbones with his bent elbows. If Kagami did it again, Aomine was sure to reach the wall and hit his head. Struggling to brace himself for such a possibility, his right arm stretched forward, his palm hitting the cold surface of the wall. It sent a different kind of shiver up his hand and down his spine.

Hot breath contrasting the shivers were the only warning he got that Kagami was close to his face, lining his jawbone, pressing wet kisses along it. He wanted to say something,  _anything_ , and Kagami’s fingers holding him in place against the counter and up off his feet made him so unsteady. His too large body being forced into an awkward ball to fit the small stretch of kitchen counter and not brain himself, made it an easy excuse to push back into Kagami’s advances.

The pleased sound from Kagami spoke volumes, though, and wanting to keep the redhead in a good mood—a pleased Kagami allowed for a sweeter experience, but a Kagami that was angry for some unknown reason made Aomine’s skin shrivel in fear of what the other man would do to him, only because for some stupid reason, Kagami was aggressively stronger than Aomine in that aspect. Many a times Aomine thought it was probably more because he was always on the receiving end since their  _relationship_  started, but every instance they coupled and broke away, another piece of Aomine was being held tight in Kagami’s fist and another mystery Aomine takes back home from Kagami.

He never gave away anything to Aomine.

The seeping dread was growing larger, even as Kagami started to pull at his drawstring, freeing his massive cock to slap Aomine’s exposed ass. Kagami’s right hand was keeping his cheeks spread, his legs pressing at Aomine’s to keep him as steady on his precarious position as he could, left hand reaching for his member to place against Aomine’s cleft.

“Should I go in dry, too?” Kagami asked of him.

Aomine froze. “God no,” he pled, now worried, eyes darting around for the oil bottle he had pilfered for cooking, but as the sight of it across on the other counter registered in his head, so did the burning penetration of Kagami’s cock in his hardly stretched ass did. Aomine choked.

“Sorry,” Kagami muttered between clenched teeth— _serves him right_ —panting with the slow push, “I’m not God.”

Aomine would have said some scathing remark right about then, but Kagami was mercilessly going in. he wanted to push him off, scream and shout, his earlier dissatisfaction from last night rearing its ugly jealous head. When he had wanted to be pushed down by this man, he had been thrown aside, and now because he  _didn’t get to fucking exercise_  Aomine was being dry fucked on the kitchen counter.

“Douche,” he mumbled into his shoulder as Kagami managed to get in another inch. Aomine clenched his eyes shut tightly, concentrating only on making the experience less painful by breathing right. Even as his exhales hitched in his throat, and his eyes burned just as much as his ass did, leaking tears, his mind was wondering why he could not have been a woman; at least there was some hope of lubrication there.

Kagami pulled out a minute amount, then hit back in hard. All the air that Aomine was concentrating on dispelled out of his lungs. He cried. “What was that?” Kagami asked, leaning closer. “I don’t think I heard you.”

“A-ass,” Aomine stuttered, bowing his head to lay his forehead on the cool marble top counter. “You heard me clearly.”

“Ah,” Kagami drew out and back inside, harder, “That I did. Sorry.” He thrust slowly, and Aomine could not tell if Kagami taking his time was making it worse or better, and he did not want to know if he was bleeding down there; he just wanted to stop thinking. “I can help you with that,” Aomine turned his neck, confused, “Not thinking.”

Whatever saliva he had left dried in his mouth.

Kagami braced his bare feet on the cold tiles of his kitchen floor, and holding Aomine’s bony hips in hands, watched as he withdrew from the puckered stretched hole and then disappear into the unbearable tightness. He knew he was being cruel. For some unfathomable reason, hearing Aomine ask him if they were going to wear protection or not, ruined his pleasantly aroused wakeup, and then the fright he saw in those wide blue eyes plummeted the rest of the happy feelings.

_The fuck is he so scared of?_  Kagami plunged in and out again, now a squelching sound starting to build up. He could even now add some spittle to improve the smooth friction, or better yet, the bottle of oil just diagonal from him; he was sure Aomine would be grateful to stop midway and start over even if it was just cooking oil. The thought brought a smile to his face, but his body did not stop. It would perhaps be a scene for another day, granted they have a nice enough time today. He was already getting too used to Aomine craving his touch, and he did not want to lose the man to something as a torn ass.

So he continued his slow assault, because there were no other words for it.

Aomine, on the other hand, was extremely ashamed at himself. Even though it hurt—God, how badly it burned and hurt to be done dry—his cock was twitching, slowly rising its proud head upwards, hitting the counter and pressing uncomfortably against the smooth surface as it tried to stand adjacent to his body. With every push from behind, his cock was unduly rubbed against the odd surface, and soon, the noises breeching his throat were loud and echoed.

“Oh, so you are enjoying this?” Kagami sounded more surprised than he should have, and aggravated, Aomine’s muscles quaked in anger. This caused him to tighten up around Kagami who hissed. “Idiot, relax!”

Aomine could not, even if he tried. “Pull out, you idiot!” he snapped back. “Pull out!”

Kagami ignored him, reaching around his waist to grab at Aomine’s cock, pumping it more than Aomine wanted it to happen. Aomine jerked, trying to get the man off physically; he wanted him out of him too, but Kagami remained resolute, holding him in place with one hand. Once again, Aomine was ashamed of himself for hardening even more at the angry heat inside of him poking around and the tight grip around his cock underneath him.

“Please,” he mangled out, pressing his forehead harder on the counter. “Kagami, please.”

“You’re weird,” Kagami scoffed. “You’re so fucking into this, you won’t even admit it. You’re about to shoot your load, and instead of becoming tighter, you’re loosening up.”

Aomine could not deny it verbally even as his head was shaking out a ‘No’; his ass was pushing against Kagami’s cock, trying to take more of the redhead into him, and his cock, while feeling like it was going to be snapped off by the tight grip, was awkwardly tilted down to increase the friction, both from Kagami’s large hand and the counter.

Kagami piston-pumped into Aomine then, finding the ease that he mentioned increasing, and his eyes darting from the oil bottle to Aomine’s bare ass decreased until he was only looking at the marvellous licentious sight of Aomine’s arched back. He caressed the plump curve of his ass, squeezing it as Aomine moaned at the contact, dragging his fingers up against the lean man’s spine and back up to his nape. Holding him down, he increased his pace, glad that it was not blood helping him along.

Licking his lips, he slanted down on Aomine’s sweat slicked back, the man’s rapidly thudding heart resounding in his own chest, he teased a few kisses on the heated skin, pelvis grinding against Aomine’s ass and soon finding himself fucking the man almost aggressively.

“Nhn!” Aomine was crying out in pleasure, mind probably past the pain already or confusing the two, Kagami was not sure, but he was enjoying this too much to really care. The noises sounded like inflamed desire and lust, and that was all Kagami needed to keep rutting Aomine.

“More…” when the word slipped out of his mouth, Aomine knew he was in the deep end with no return. The fact that it took barely a second for Kagami to provide him with his need, was another thing that would surely ruin him. Aomine knew, deep down in his most inner place, that even if Kagami treated him like a blow-up doll, he would still bend over and asked to be taken, whenever the man wanted him. Kagami wanting him was starting to feel like an honour—he had never been pushed away, and he never had to beg—and the stare Kagami had only for him… Aomine moaned at his thoughts and the sensation of Kagami filling him up. “Fuck,” he cursed, his body alight. It would do, he thought, that Kagami was a fireman; only he would know how to stop Aomine from burning out with the lust that was boiling his body into nothing.

Aomine was close, he could tell, when the clenching of loosened muscles started to milk him for all it was worth, and the wonton cries filled his chest. Though it was awkward doing it in his kitchen, Kagami was already thinking about the next surface he wanted to push the man down and take him from.

The dark skinned male cried out a long drawn out moan as he came in Kagami’s fisted embrace, and a few moments later, Kagami buried himself deeper into Aomine and spilled spurts of cum inside him. Panting, he eased off Aomine, pulling the man with him, and together, kneeled clumsily on the tiled floor, feeling the thick liquid oozing out as they shifted to make the descent.

“…how about another round?” he whispered into the damp curling hair at Aomine’s nape, mussing the strands with his nose. He breathed in Aomine’s scent, strong and potent, while at the same time a smell he would not mind being covered by it. Aomine, panting in his lap, still sitting on his cock, squirmed away from his face. Kagami, a frown starting to form, was surprised when Aomine struggled to face him, not letting go of his half-hard member within him. “Hm?”

Aomine did not look him in the eye. Breathing heavily, he stared down, at his own length squashed in between their abdomens. “Give me a minute,” he managed, voice so soft and airy, it tickled Kagami’s nose.

He smirked. “Sure, why not?” Kagami pulled Aomine closer, his cock moving further in to nestle, and tilted his face to Aomine’s. “Why don’t I just help you get there, huh?” And saying so, he started to kiss Aomine breathless, as though the police officer was not already short of the life-sustaining element.

Aomine kissed back just as furiously, thought, arms draped over thick shoulder muscles. After, he was going to make Kagami cook him some soup for lunch. He can already tell he was going to have problems eating for a few days.

 

* * *

 

**Author’s End Notes:**  OMG, that was hard. I think I must have missed some details. In that case, please use your lovely imagination XD

Sorry for the late update though…I think I concentrated too much on AoKaga Month since I wanted those posts to be completely different from my regular on-going pieces. It would feel like a cop-out right?


	3. Veracious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Expecting to be broken, he is subsumed gently by a man he does not understand, and that misunderstanding is cornering him at a dead-end where even the truth makes it difficult to find a way out.**

 

Aomine wakes up, alone and tucked in, and the alarm going off on the table to his side. A shaky hand reaches out to snap it shut, and the blissful quietness fills his head. He sighs out, more of a confusion, because he was not in his own bed. He slowly sits up, stopping at every jerking movement as his hips were excruciatingly throbbing along with his heart, and he knew he would be killing himself in the next few moments.

“I’m going to kill that fucking shit,” Aomine mumbled into his chest as his chin dropped down, huffing in exertion he did not think he was putting in getting off the bed.

“Talking about me?”

Aomine glared over his shoulder at Kagami, standing at the doorway, holding a mug to his lips. He did not look pleased, which to Aomine, was annoying since Kagami was supposed to be feeling high and mighty right about now.

“I’ve got a bath running for you,” Kagami says, drinking calmly whatever he has in that deep blue mug of his. Aomine narrows in on it, itching to ask but too worried to really say anything after he was caught badmouthing the other. He has had enough “punishment” for one night. Why he thought he would be able to go to work today, he has no idea, but it is too late to call in now.

Suddenly, Kagami is in his face, sitting on the bed edge and handing him the mug he was drinking from. Aomine peers, unconvinced of the nice guy act, hesitantly taking the proffered item.

“Thanks?”

Kagami scoffs, turning away, looking at the bleak room of his. Aomine, too, took in the meagre décor, noting no basketball embellishments, no pictures in their little manly frames or even anything personal. It felt like Aomine was in a call room, where only the bed mattered. The warm hand that grazed his as Kagami stood up made his eyes follow the towering redhead. He was reaching over to open the blinds slowly, letting light flood into the room, but not on Aomine, to which he was grateful for. Likewise, he took a cursory sip of the brew in the mug and drew back in surprise.

“Tea?”

“What of it?” Kagami asked quietly, moving around the room now.

Aomine stopped himself from shrugging. “You seemed like the coffee kind of guy. Ya know?”

“I can drink tea some times,” Kagami absentmindedly spoke, and for reasons he could not fathom, having Kagami’s attention taken away from him was frustrating. Aomine squashed down the rising irritation, gulping down more of the hot tea to push those things further down his stomach. “Besides, tea will work better for you than coffee right about now.”

Aomine jerked back at Kagami, not requiring to strain too much since the man had already trekked back to him, holding out his hand. Aomine stared at it, confused, until Kagami sighed, gently but firmly pulled away the mug and set it down behind him. Aomine wanted to protest—just when he was enjoying it too—but Kagami merely reached for him under the armpits and with one staggering pull, got Aomine off the bed.

“Wha—” Aomine felt tingles curl at his sides, crawling up.

Kagami looked up at him, steady, firm, “I drew you a bath. We’re going there now.”

And saying so, the man promptly fireman-carried him off in the direction of the bathroom, Aomine remaining in an awkward reverse-supine position, facing Kagami’s furrowed eyebrows and narrowed eyes. He would have felt less weird if he was facing the other way or even in the traditional fireman’s carry like a sack of potatoes on the redhead’s shoulder.

Fortunately for Aomine, Kagami reached the bathtub shortly, using his foot to unhinge the cover, and the hot vapour filled the tiled room almost immediately.

Aomine breathed in the moist air, the tightening in his lungs clearing, and as he was calming down, Kagami lifted his legs. Gasping at the sudden motion—the redhead was doing as he pleased again—Aomine flung his arms around the firm nape, clutching on, and felt himself being slowly lowered into the tub.

He hissed as the hot water touched his bare bottom skin, burning hot, his voice automatically jumping out along with his body arching away from the water to complain, but steady red eyes kept his words at bay. Elbows deep, Kagami submerged Aomine into the hot bath. It does not take long for his skin to heat up, his muscles to loosen, and his ass to throb like a beating heart. The sigh he releases this time around is soft and pleasant.

“Like that?” Kagami’s voice is equally soft, and weirdly not echoing in the tilted room. Aomine blinks open his closed eyes (he does not remember even closing them) and flicks his sight to Kagami. The redhead is observing him, kneeling at the tub, hands still in the water with Aomine. He almost cheekily wants to ask Kagami to join him.

Almost.

“Hmm,” he replies, noncommittal.

Kagami smiles, a serene expression, and Aomine takes it in. He literally burns the image into his eyelids because that was how content Kagami looked, pleased and happy, lightly causing ripples in the bathtub.

The man reaches over to the side where a few bottle are lined neatly against the wall, and from where he rested, Aomine can see the foam bottle he picks up. “I don’t have anything to cause bubbles, so you can’t play in the water for long.”

He would have laughed if the grin on Kagami’s face was not poking fun at him. He scoffs instead, turning to face away, which is why he did not see Kagami’s hand rub down his chest, eliciting a shocked sound and moan from him. Hands over his mouth in embarrassment, Kagami’s amused eyes danced before him.

“Are you still sensitive?”

Aomine holds his breath as the soaped up hand trails lightly against his chest, circling his nipples standing at point, saluting the redhead general. He stifles the next series of moans as the hand, now joined by the other, firmly but still gently start massaging his pectorals, and Aomine cannot keep himself upright any longer, slowly sliding downwards, his head reaching the rim of the tub. Instantaneously, a strong hand shoots up to grip his head, cupping the base of his skull, and Aomine watches, wide eyed, as Kagami peers down at him.

“Did you hit your head?”

Slowly, he shakes in the negative.

A soft puff of relief exits Kagami’s pursed mouth, making a sound, and then he shares a small smile with him.

Aomine, unsure, uncomfortable, not knowing what to expect, shyly turns his lips up. He is still waiting for the other shoe to drop where Kagami will aggressively wrestle with him and this whole experience will stop being a sugar-inducing, cotton candy fragile moment. His mouth is doing a weird phase in between dry tongue and wet spittle gathering.

Kagami idly brings forth a washcloth, lathering it up and helping him wash up, and Aomine sits, quietly, unassuming. Sometime after, Kagami drains the water that is starting to feel really good on his muscles, but the redhead chuckles softly.

“Wash up here first, and I’ll draw another again. You’ll be a prune, though,” he warned, and for reasons Aomine cannot grasp, he does as Kagami says. With some help, he exits the draining tub, sitting on the lone stool Kagami pulls out for him, and while he gives his head and body a good scrubbing down, Kagami has washed the tub and sits on the edge, filling it. Awkward, knowing the other is watching him move, Aomine bends over his exposed lap as though Kagami has never seen him in more shameful positions.

A few fingertips dance across his nape, and shivering, he straightens, his previously heated body now cooling. He feels like he is starting to sweat with the attention his back is getting from the redhead, almost enough to snap at him to look away.

“Aomine…” Kagami’s voice is loud in the bathroom, which was unusual since he was still murmuring lowly. “Look over here.”

“Where?” He asked despite himself.

“At me.”

He licked his lips, staring at the moisture on his skin, trailing down his legs and to his feet, joining the puddle beneath. He straightens a little more, cranking his neck to the side, eyelashes fluttering with the rapidly escaping rivulets from his hairline, and through the few drops dripping into his eyes, Kagami, tranquil, pulls at his elbow, and Aomine follows.

In a quiet haze, Aomine is bathed again by this confusing man.

* * *

 

Aomine’s dream faze lifted once he was out of his bath (or really, baths), dressed in comfortable sweats and fed a quiet breakfast that made him sleepy all over again. He wishes that he thought ahead and pulled a double shift so that he would have had today off as well, but unfortunately for him—and apparently his life—things never worked out the way he wanted it to. Case in point, Aomine reviews how Kagami is now a constant, and unlike before, not a day goes by when he wonders when he would meet the redhead again.

Looking over his shoulder through slit eyes, Kagami washes up after breakfast, strong back bent forward as he cleans the dishes and utensils they used earlier. The only items not being rushed to their soap-water death were the mugs on the counter, one being cradled in his hands. it was oolong this time, and while Aomine did not mind the beverage, he was missing his morning coffee. Maybe at the station, he would bully a younger officer to get him some. At the moment, though, he was content relaxing some more, knowing he was way too lazy to be sitting around when he was supposed to be at his desk two hours ago.

Glancing at the clock, he is a little surprised that his phone is not vibrating its motherboard off the deep end by now.

Sighing, he pushes himself on his feet. “Thanks for breakfast and as much as I would like to roll back to sleep, I have to go now.”

Kagami pauses at the sink. “Ah, don’t bother.”

Aomine scowls, placing the mug on the counter top, otherwise in two seconds Kagami would probably be picking ceramic pieces out of his skull. “What do you mean? Unlike you, I have to be at work today.”

Kagami shrugs, and it makes Aomine even sourer at the gesture. “What? You think just because I’m not saving lives the way you do, it’s okay to miss a day here and there?”

The unsettling feeling from before was rising again. Was this the other shoe dropping, Aomine cannot know for sure, but he knows that his unease is probably adding fuel to a fire that did not exist. Worried that his true feelings are showing face, he clamps down on them, now concentrating on finding his clothes from yesterday.

“Where are you going?”

Aomine did not bother to respond, removing the borrowed clothes and dumping them unceremoniously onto the floor, finding his shirt from the previous day haphazardly thrown in one corner. He dusts it out before carrying it back out with him, remembering his jeans were still probably near the kitchen. As much as he can, he stomps outside to see Kagami perched on the sofa lounge, frowning, and Aomine’s jeans in one hand.

“Give that to me, I need to leave.” He brandished one hand close to Kagami, who pulled away.

“No. You can stay a bit.”

Aomine hissed. “What are you on?! I just told you I have to be at work. I’m not going to throw away my good reputation just because you aren’t done doing whatever it seems to be your objective of the day.” He grabs at the jeans, effectively retrieving his property from slackened fingers and faces away from the redhead as he dresses. “I’m done with you. You’re an idiot, an asshole, and I was a fool to think anything else! Seriously, what did I even see—”

“I did you a favour,” Kagami interrupts his tirade. Aomine staggers short, and turns.

“What?”

“I got my lieutenant to inform your boss that we were working on fieldwork and putting together everything we have so far, from canvasing witness reports to sightings, to case files and incidents.” Aomine watches how Kagami looks slightly too bored of the discussion, as though it was something he would rather not discuss, and that there was something totally different he wanted to do.

“…But we haven’t done that. What am I going to tell him if he asks for the report? ‘ _Oh, sorry, I left it with Kagami?_ ’ Like he’d believe that.”

Kagami shrugs, still watching him with drowsy eyes. “The report’s on the shoe cabinet. Take it on your way out.”

Aomine stiffened. He tried to take in a calming breath, but it turned out shuddered, and it felt stale in his lungs. “…You…could have just said to leave and I would have understood.”

At this, Kagami straightens, a confused twitch at the furrows on his forehead. “…What? If I want you to leave, you’d know.”

Aomine pulls up his pant completely. “Yea, so I’m leaving now, douche.”

Kagami releases a weird sound from his chest and throat, a low growl but not, and it makes the fine hair on his nape stand at attention. He sits up further, hands balled, and demands, “What the fuck are you saying? When did I say you had to leave? You’re the one rushing to leave!”

“Just now!” Aomine snapped, trying to find the hole for his sleeve and failing miserably for that. “’ _You just take the report on the way out._ ’ I will ‘cause I’m leaving now!”

Deciding not to leave Aomine in charge of his own violent emotions, Kagami grabs hold of the arm still struggling to find leeway towards a sleeve. Aomine, not realising how frustrated he was at what Kagami had said, releases angry tears as he snarls and huffs, now trying to struggle away from Kagami. He trips, falling head first, but Kagami is there, catching him and pulling him backwards and into his lap, holding him secure against his chest.

“Why are you so difficult?” Kagami sounds like he wants to shout these words, but they are painfully soft, murmured unfairly at the crook of Aomine’s neck. Aomine shudders, in retaliation he elbows Kagami, hoping to be let free, but the redhead grabbed both wrists and crossed them against Aomine’s chest, bending their bodies forward. Now, with Kagami’s weight added to his own, Aomine could only wiggle in discomfort.

“You’re the difficult one!” Aomine snarled with clenched teeth. “What happened to just being fuck buddies? Why the fuck are you so possessive one moment and then blasé about our interaction the next?”

Kagami remained silent but Aomine could still feel his breath on his pulse, hot and steady, and if Kagami spoke, Aomine was going to have a problem; he was already ruined by this man, he did not need anything more to shackle him to Kagami.

“One moment you’re pushing me away from you after giving me some ‘service’, and the next you’re disinterested. Then you’re ‘ _you can do it if you try_ ’ and then you’re ‘ _I’ll fucking do you the way I want to’_?! What the actual fuck?!” Aomine was heaving, breathing harshly, and those burning streams from his blurry eyes were not what he wanted right about now—Kagami would never take a crying man seriously.

But Kagami was doing something Aomine did not factor in.

Soft, gentle kisses from the junction of his neck and shoulder to the base of his jaw were laid out, while insistent arms folded around Aomine, forcing his body into a hold that encompassed him. Aomine felt like a child or a caterpillar enclosed in its cocoon, and all thanks to these weird moods of Kagami Taiga. Aomine was feeling safe in this makeshift bubble.

“Stop it,” Aomine pled, low, sobbing. “Just stop playing me.”

“Shouldn’t those be my words?”

Kagami’s voice struck him sharp; “Hah?!”

“Shouldn’t I be begging you not to play me? Aren’t you the seductress here? Cajoling me into this treacherous game where it’s easy for you to walk away from, but God forbid I invest anything in it, and it’ll be my downfall.” Kagami moved his lips to Aomine’s ear. He shivered.

“I’m not… I did no such thing.”

“Liar,” Kagami took his earlobe into his mouth with his teeth, sucking it sensually, pulling it, nipping it softly. “Every time I try to hurt you so that you never come back, you just keep pushing back on to me. How am I supposed to take that message?” Kagami spread his things so that Aomine now nestled between firm, unmoving muscular legs. Kagami crossed his ankles around Aomine’s, and soon, the comforting enclosure was starting to feel like the cage that it was, and Aomine did not know if he thought that was better or worse.

The edges of his reasoning, too, were starting to fade and blur, and Aomine was slightly surprised he was not causing a bigger commotion to be let off. His mind had already categorised Kagami as someone dangerous, but if the man was anyone else, Aomine knew he would overthrow the bastard and gut him before emptying his gun’s magazine into him. Kagami, the scary dominant, egoistical lover of his, now he was someone Aomine felt weak-kneed to even think about throwing on the floor.

“You know what I think, Aomine?” Kagami was saying, and Aomine drew back to the present with a sharp gasp as he felt hot fingers dance along his clavicles, at the hollow they formed and then with teasing motions, walked up his throat. “I think you like the rough sex. You like being pushed down by me. See?” He says and Aomine’s eyes are darting everywhere in front of him, at his knees, at Kagami’s knees, at their feet entwined together. “You’re already pushing back onto me.”

Aomine’s eyes widened.  _No, that’s not—_ but he was, slowly, without hesitance, pushing onto Kagami, hoping that the redhead would spring up in want of him. Aomine was already hard (but he has no inkling to when that happened) and he was pulling at his hands, to be freed, because he just wants to—Aomine is scared of himself. Of the downward spiral his thoughts and actions are taking him.

If Kagami was anyone but him…

“I told you,” Kagami whispered, and the drop in pitch curled something pleasant and sinister in Aomine, and soon, straining against his pants, toes clenching tight at the lush carpet beneath his feet, Aomine is arching into Kagami’s body. “For someone who’s so wantonly asking to be done, you’re being so difficult.”

“No,” Aomine’s voice was too soft to call that a denial. Too pliant. Too needy.

“Yes,” Kagami simply counters, a lithe tone, “So just give up. You’re already mine.”

And Aomine froze, mouth agape, throat tight as Kagami’s fingers were replaced by his hand, and the appendage held Aomine’s throat comfortably without any pressure. The threat of what it could lead to, however, lingered in between them, filling up his lungs, his veins—“Ngh,” Aomine pushed his lower body into Kagami, thankfully feeling the man slowly harden under him, and he pushed his head forward against the hand around his throat.

Kagami made a small noise of surprise, and watching Aomine’s dark head flounce, trying to be exposed to all the sensations he is being promised with, Kagami is seething with the need to fulfil them all.

“Patience, Aomine,” he hums into dark skin, watching as Goosebumps flutters the surface. “I’ll give you everything you want. I told you,” he tightens his hand and tucks Aomine firmly into his body, “You’re mine, and I take care of my things.”

Aomine’s mewl was the only soft sound that permeated the air.

* * *

 

Aomine struts into the firehouse, eyes staring straight ahead unbothered by the activities he disturbed as he cut through them. Some, used to his higher than thou attitude, resumed whatever they had been doing, knowing it was a moot point to try and get the  _junsa_  to apologise; it was faster to pretend the man did not exist.

He makes his way confidently towards the offices, from memory remembering where Kagami sat, and soon found himself staring at an empty space. Frowning, he turned his head to stare at the open door of the station’s lieutenant, and headed there. Knocking for courtesy’s sake, Aomine drawled out, “Where’s Kagami?”

As usual, the lieutenant jumped in his skin at the lack of greeting and respect Aomine withheld from him. Another one semi-used to Aomine’s brashness, he shakily pointed out, “He’s in the conference room.”

“Hah?” Aomine sounded, annoyed, “What’s he doing there?”

The lieutenant looked as though he wanted to be sassy, but one look at the scowling furrows made him change his mind, looking everywhere but at the younger male. Aomine, understanding that the other was unduly scared of him—they had yet to really come to blows, so the elder male had nothing to worry about—decided to lean more onto him, forcing out information.

“Eto…Kagami, he, er…” If Aomine sees the man twiddle his thumbs, he was going to call for aerial support. “Um he should be done soon.”

Unhelpful as always, Aomine sighs heavenward and drops into one of the two seats in the man’s office, ignored the scandalised look the male was trying to hide from him. It would have been funny if Aomine was not tired from double-checking the witness reports Kagami had compiled (he had his own honour at stake and if it was not on par with his usual work, he was chucking the report at the redhead) only to find that a fiercely determined Kagami Taiga was a force to be reckoned with.

Knee jerking up and down in contained impatience, Aomine repeatedly glances at the closed door of the conference room they had once used, flushing as he remembers what they had done there, too. As if on call, the door springs open, and before he can get up, a few people trickle out, a few he recognised, one being Kawasaki the firehouse’s arson investigator, and the young cheery volunteer. Aomine does not recall his name, so passes it off.

That is, until Kagami follows, clapping the young smiling male on the back before he mussed the boy’s head with his big hand, letting it rest for far too long.

An angry coiling motion churns his insides and before he can voice out a horrible protest, he is vaulting out of his chair and towards the apparatus bay, cleaning exiting the firehouse.

“Kagami!”

Kagami turns to face his lieutenant, walking forward, only to stagger at the panicked expression the elder male wore. “What’s going on?”

“You have got to stop hanging around these scary guys!” The lieutenant almost cries in his arms. Kagami has to suck in his cheeks to stop his surprised laughter from erupting. “Especially that  _junsa_!”

“Aomine’s here?” Kagami asked, pleasantly stunned.

“was here; he just took off when you came out. And to think he even waited for you to come out,” his lieutenant continued in a pout, though Kagami had stopped listening after that. Frowning, he turns to face the open bay, watching as his colleagues participated in drills and cleaning duties.

“You said he just left?” Kagami interrupted the whining man.

The lieutenant looked up at him. “Yea, just a few seconds ago.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in emphasis.

“Thanks,” Kagami said, walking away quickly. Aomine really needed to stop pitching a hissy fit before he even spoke out about what was going on in his head. Slightly amused for whatever reason the dark skinned male must have concocted in that twisted mind of his, Kagami grins to himself.

It would not do, after all, if Aomine was easy.

 

* * *

**Author’s Note:**  Was Kagami an unpredictable 180? I kind of purposely left out his thoughts until the end, so I hope it didn’t totally kill people off the story. A better understanding may await you guys on the last part.

Hope this was still enjoyable even if there was no actual NSFW content this time around (*gasp* I’m just as surprised as you guys are :P).


	4. Chicanery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **He does not know when he was being conspired against, but he just wishes to wake up from this nightmare he is living in. The only person who stops him from this downward spiral is also one he is in a deadlock with. And just when he drops his inhibitions…**

* * *

 

**Author’s Warning/Note:**

Er, can I warn for my grammar? Like, I don’t know why it changes so easily from one tense to another, but when I try to make it all the same, the flow is being disrupted!!

And apparently, my overuse of the passive voice =___= 

(This is why I suck; can’t even use proper English any more!!)

Also, please do not expect much. Seriously. Don’t.

 

* * *

 

Kagami knew who it was before he was told, with one look at his colleague's face. There were no tears—at least, not yet—but the slack, wide eyed look, keeping the tears at bay, bright red nose taking longer and deeper pulls of air, Kagami knew.

Wordlessly, the man passes the report to him before he turns, leaving as silently as he entered. Kagami watches for a few more seconds, each passage of time clawing at his shoulders, digging into his neck, making his muscles stiffen as he stood waiting to glance at the seemingly innocent paper in his hands. The stark white sheet flittered, creased wherever someone held it, and as his eyes dropped down to the words, the creasing near his fingers gathered harshly. The soft crinkling of the page was drowned out by the whiny grinding of his teeth. "Damn it."

"Kagami..." Blinking rapidly to control his own tear ducks, he glanced forward where the Lieutenant stumbled forward, worried furrows on his brow, edging close but not too close. "I'm sorry," the man continues.

Kagami shakes his head—how could the other be at fault, really?—and cracked a dislocated smile. The Lieutenant winced reflexively, and Kagami could only blame himself. "It's not your fault, sir."

The Lieutenant shook his head, sad. "You spent a few years together, right? You even graduated from the course together."

Looking back down at the paper—as though the motion would save him—he nodded, voice breaking as it tried to answer; "Aa. A good partner. A good friend." His eyes and nose felt hot, his head soaring, "A good fire-fighter." It takes a moment too long for Kagami to breathe in shakily before wheezing out, “Was a good man.”

The lieutenant smiled, sorrowfully, and covered the distance between them in a few short strides. He patted Kagami on the arm a few times then gripped him firmly, soothingly, saying, "Aa, that he was. That he was, Kagami."

 

* * *

 

 

By the time their shift is officially over, Kagami and his Lieutenant have already cleared the dead fire-fighter's locker, filled out the necessary forms and claims, pulled out old contracts, checked the employee directory, and suited themselves up for a home visit.

Just as by the time Kagami was done wringing his emotions in a dryer, exhausted, he finds himself already dredging himself towards his cold apartment building. In a millisecond, he is surprised to see Aomine waiting at his door, features pulled taut in the cold, before the scene registers in Kagami's body, stiffening unpleasantly.

_And there I was, feeling good that Aomine..._ His brain does not even let the thought complete, pushing against each other, forcing his body to function without shutting down in the middle of the passage to his entrance, forcing his body to remember to breathe steadily.

The loathing, surprising as it was, weighed his body as he keeps the door open for Aomine, feet feeling as though he was walking through swamp and slime to get inside. His body heavy, he decided to relieve some of its load, undressing from the get-go. Mindlessly, he makes it to the fridge, and the cold air hitting his exposed chest and face make him calm down from that same self-loathing. The pause is enough to move to speak to Aomine.

With more casual grace than he thought he had left at this point, Kagami tries to speak softly, jaws lax, "Will a beer do?" He was not even in the mood for drinking.

Drinking would not bring his friend back.

Drinking would not wash away the loathing, would not fill up that hole.

Kagami is so into his shell, he cannot even hear Aomine. He does not know if the other speaks, nor can he read the face the other man is making. He wants to open his mouth, say something, tell him what had happened, he wants to clutch at Aomine and hang his head, letting all those pent up emotions break through the barrier he held up and ease the pain in his chest. And then one look at Aomine and the sadness of losing his friend is lost at the expression the other is shamefacedly giving him.

Suddenly, Kagami is just as ashamed of himself, just as disgusted at his body’s reaction in this time of his life.

The burning need to be held by those arms, to hold that hot body in his own, that need encompassed him for near a second, stifling him. Using the shame he felt just a second ago, he allowed it to fuel his walk towards the innocent Aomine, whose wide eyed stare was that of a little lost animal, wondering what was happening. Kagami reaches for his face, feeling the soft skin, the warmth; wants to curl up in the other man's heat, but that would mean betraying the sobriety of the evening. It would mean losing his mindfulness; it would mean playing ignorant and oblivious to what had happened.

Kagami cannot let himself forget his friend and his service, even if Aomine leans into the hand he keeps at the curve of his cheek.

He reaches over, mind numb, and he says something he does not remember—“I’m too tried for you tonight.”—and he takes those lips that are always making him forget himself, always making him do things he would rather not; the kiss is small, barely there, and Kagami recognises that he is speaking before he can even get the little satisfaction from the kiss he initiates. “Since you’re already here, I’ll lay out the futon.”

 

* * *

 

 

In the morning, he ignores the sight of the futon laid open on his floor, distinctly aware of the object's real reason for existence. It would seem that the only person Kagami had needed it for would never need to use it again.

He also ignores how the large hole in his chest he wakes up with is increasing in width, and instead of feeling lighter, he feels heavier by the second. Groggily, he checks the temperature of the futon before walking out of his bedroom to where his only other guest is making a racket, the same body that is supposed to be weighed down feels alight with a weak-kneed desire that can only be suppressed with carnality.

Kagami can hear his friend's guffawing, a teasing, " _You really only listen to instinct, Taiga_!" and he feels like he can breathe again when his hands touch the dark skin of his almost lover.

 

* * *

 

 

_The fuck is he so scared of?_

That one line started a mantra he could have done without in his head, overtaking the sounds Aomine was releasing, sounding more close to pleasure than it started off.

Seeing Aomine now enjoying what Kagami could only berate himself for how they started, rougher than he would have liked, rougher than he would have liked to treat Aomine no matter how painful it was being with the other male, was putting more of a damper on his already sour mood than he thought possible. He had wanted to forget; he had wanted to pretend that nothing of reality could touch him in his little bubble, with Aomine pushing back into him just as needy as he had become when he laid his gaze on the sinfully poised blue haired male.

And now, when the passion should have been the only thing colouring his mind, his thoughts, Aomine was acting differently.

_Protection?_

_Bare?_

What did it matter to the two of them, after all the times they have done it, swapped body fluids like they lived on it, and then— _that look_.

_What did that look even mean? The fuck is he so scared of?_

His slow assault continued for longer than he thought it was right, and Aomine's soft guttural moans littered the atmosphere. Somewhere in the back of his head, a voice he can only recall as his child-like self was grousing at him: “ _It might have been messy, but you would have enjoyed it more,_ ” and this child-him is lazily holding a familiar looking oil bottle. Kagami ignores his inner thoughts, focusing on how Aomine was name calling, and him quipping he could stop the other man from thinking.

“ _Just like he stops you from thinking?”_

Kagami concentrated on his feet against the cold tiles of the kitchen. The hot skin under the palms of his hands and the tips of his fingers. How Aomine, despite what could only be burning pain, was shamelessly pushing right back onto Kagami; it was possibly the only thing stopping him from going faster than the other wanted, because he knew, one misstep, and Aomine would be sitting off the court for the next few games. Heck, even then Kagami would probably have a harder time being trusted by this volatile man.

“Oh, so you are enjoying this?” He asked of Aomine, who reacting almost immediately, clenched his sphincter muscles around his plunging organ. He hissed, trying not to jerk away, “Idiot, relax!”

But Aomine was not listening, seeming to be adamant as he shouted out: “Pull out, you idiot! Pull out!”

So Kagami figured it was easier to get the other to relax or they were both going to regret the day’s slowly souring beginning. He reached around Aomine’s waist, roughly took hold of the leaking cock flailing to a flaccid droop, and started to invigorate him by stoic pumping motions. Aomine jerked away from the touch, trying to get Kagami off him from the front—and potentially from the back too—but Kagami stood firm. Soon enough, Kagami was met with a distorted “Please, Kagami, please.” He tried breathing in slowly, watching as Aomine remained bowed perpendicular to the kitchen counter, forehead pressed hard on the granite surface.

Kagami was uncertain of his next action: should he pull out or should he trust the burning, pulsing stiff flesh in his hand that he was softly palming about this point. He exhaled silently before scoffing. “You’re weird. You’re so fucking into this, you won’t even admit it.” Kagami was praying Aomine would not deny him at this point. Bracing himself, bluffing, he steam rolls the rest of his thought out loud. “You’re about to shoot your load, and instead of becoming tighter, you’re loosening up.”

Aomine did not vocalise what his head was already doing, shaking out negatives, even though his lower body was pushing against Kagami’s cock. If Kagami could not tell better, Aomine was trying to take more of him.

And this just proved to Kagami that it was okay to believe the lie he was selling to himself. A long few minutes after, panting as he and Aomine kneeled clumsily on the kitchen floor, Kagami could only whisper “…How about another round?”, the damp short hairs at Aomine’s nape curling softly at each spoken word. Kagami breathed in Aomine’s scent, grounding himself in the here and now, was only disturbed by Aomine squirming on his lap, not letting go of his still partially erect member within him. Facing him and glancing in the general direction of Kagami’s face expectantly—but not looking him in the eye—Aomine softly pants out, “Give me a minute.”

Kagami pauses, taking in the flushed face, the heaving chest slowing down as it caught up with its oxygen requirements.

“Sure, why not?” Kagami pulled Aomine closer, his cock moving further inside Aomine to nestle, and tilted his face to Aomine’s. “Why don’t I just help you get there, huh?” And he proceeded to deprive Aomine from using his lungs, kissing all the air and thought out of his body. The action, however, was justified when Aomine disregarded his own comfort, kissing back feverishly, arms coiling over Kagami’s bare shoulders.

It did not take long for Aomine to rejuvenate, Kagami already feeling the sphincter spasm around his cock as Aomine moved away for air, taking in deep breaths, then going back in for more sloppy open-mouthed kisses as though he was deep-sea diving without gear. Amused, Kagami kept meeting the other, fingers caressing the bony hips undulating on his lap, stroking Kagami without him needing to do anything. This time, though, Kagami peered through his eyelashes, and reached over to the bottom cupboard’s handle. He broke off a kiss, Aomine mewling at the loss, and instructed, “If you can reach that container, we can move on to better things.”

Aomine glances over a bent shoulder, eyes narrowed rather suspiciously which Kagami felt was due to him, but remained tickled at the widening of blue eyes. Aomine did not utter a word, mutely reaching the aforementioned container and bringing it out to lean on his scrunched abdominals.

There is silence in the kitchen and even the heated panting is soft to non-existent.

“You must be kidding me,” Aomine mutters dispassionately. “Extra virgin coconut oil?”

Kagami feels his eyebrow rise in concern. “Are you allergic?”

“To stupidity, maybe,” Aomine tries to quip, but his words stutter when Kagami juts the man off his thighs a bit, making his cock thrust into him uncomfortably. “H-Hey!” the exclamation drifts out as a dear memory filters through.

“ _I’m telling you, Kagami! This is priceless!!” The smile on his face is far from innocent, and Kagami laughs, trying to move away from him. “Don’t diss it before you try it! Your girlfriend’s pussy will feel like a-a-a velvet cock sleeve after you switch over!”_

_Kagami’s laugh echoes in the locker room, disturbing the cold silence of the open-ended room. His friend sidles closer to him, nudging him. Kagami decides to be the brat his friend complains he is from time-to-time, and says, “Does your newly-wed wife know that was her nickname before marriage?”_

_“K-Kagami you asshole! Don’t go ruining my honeymoon period!” Kagami gets smacked on the back for that._

_“Besides,” Kagami tries to play off calmly, nervous at the words he is going to finally divulge to the man he considers a brother, “I don’t want to use something I drink in the mornings while I fuck my boyfriend into the mattress.”_

_The other man stills, albeit still sitting close to him. A huge warm arm drapes around Kagami’s own stiff shoulders, and there’s a loud laugh in his ear. “Well, how about that?! Prime opportunity to have kitchen sex then! Kagami, my man, your boyfriend is going to thank me for this stuff! Just you wait and see!”_

Kagami blinked down at the jar holding semi-solid coconut oil in its glass confines, looking like the stuff of dreams and skies. He pulls the container out of the dark skinned male’s grip, and twists it open. The strong scent of pure coconut permeates the air around them, and Kagami chuckles when Aomine licks his lips unconsciously.

He drags two fingers through the white gloop, the heat of his skin liquidating it to its oil form, and he reached behind the reticent pose Aomine was displaying. One coated finger traced the strained rim, the other easing into the tight space until both his cock and middle finger sat snug inside Aomine. Aomine, on the other hand, let loose a small stretched out moan, the sound bouncing off the kitchen walls unevenly. Kagami watched as Aomine straightened his back, arching his chest into Kagami’s, breathing in sharply through his nose, throwing his head back. Kagami quickly placed the coconut oil jar on the floor after gathering more of the substance on his fingers, using both hands to spread the easily spreading oil on his cock and guiding it into Aomine’s ass. The soft moans were increasing in tempo, just as the owner was bending his knees off the floor and using his forefeet to guide him up and down Kagami’s cock.

Kagami helped Aomine stay steady, but his lips were widening, just as the laugh tickling in his throat wanted to jump out; Aomine was seriously too cute at the moment, wanting to be pleased and wanting to please, at least that was what Kagami saw, watching the flush from the face travel all the way down to Aomine’s navel. At this point, Kagami leaned forward to trail soft and dry kisses—more brushes of his lips on the sweat glistening skin—covering the colouring. He wrapped his arms around the swell of Aomine’s rising and falling ass, burying his face into the muscled stomach, let tears finally trail down his cheeks. “There’s a man you should be thanking for this, Aomine,” he whispers into the hot skin under his lips.

Aomine, in his own pleasure filled, coconut fragranced world, did not catch Kagami breaking in the embrace he completed, throwing his own arms around the redhead’s neck, digging his fingers into corded shoulders. “Yea,” Aomine moans out, instead, “I’ll thank you later, Bakagami. _Just_ —!”

Kagami chokes on his laugh as he thrusts in deeper.

 

* * *

 

 

Later, when he takes Aomine to the bed, Kagami clutches at the bony lithesome figure to his chest, breathing in calmly, feeling less tired than he should at the moment. The previous night he had zoned out forcibly, hours upon hours of work and then the news of the death—his body could not hold on for longer, his brain shutting off. Here, two rounds of sucking face, slicking up Aomine so that he could slide into the man some million more times, fingers with blunt nails digging into the narrow hips and dragging up the statuesque torso as Kagami pounded into Aomine. The slew of thoughts revolving around the death of his friend, his padre in the firehouse, all seemed for nought when Aomine implored more of his attention, more of his action; simply more of him, and Kagami just could not deny the other.

So now, when Aomine is quiet, when Aomine does not need Kagami in his dreams, ensconced in the bedcovers he had draped on him, the thoughts he had pushed away are slinking back to him, crowding in his head, chipping away at his defence. He wants to put off his brain, just for a few more moments, and come the next morning, he will deal with whatever it wanted him to deal with.

“A few more minutes,” Kagami pleads with the silence of the room, hugging Aomine’s coconut scented curled form closer so as to repel the thoughts that are now becoming malicious entities hiding in every corner of his home, in every shadow, waiting to jump at him unawares. “Just a few more minutes.”

The warm body in his arms moves, a huff of annoyance slipping past slack lips that are slightly bruised courtesy of him. Kagami smiles at how much of a princess his lover is, burying his face into the crook of his neck, legs shivering as they tried to find perchance of Kagami’s body heat, insistently digging into his calves. His thick fingers play with the short hairs at the nape of Aomine’s neck and he turns to face the man, placing a soft, close-mouthed kiss onto his forehead.

“You’ll let me have at least this, right?”

 

* * *

 

 

Sleep does not last for long, and Kagami finds himself waking up to the darkened room. Aomine has turned away in his sleep, pulling the covers off his shoulders, probably feeling too hot for the time. On passing he thanks the sleeping male for not completely throwing the covers off them, and mussing dark locks, he groans as he gets up, padding his way past his blinded window, glad he had no time to open it up earlier, or the midmorning rays would have burned his retinas right off.

He washes up lethargically, categorising the chores he has left to do, adding the kitchen on the top of this list before his stomach decides that its needs out weighted the mess the two of them had left in it the past few hours. Cringing at the thought of scrubbing out the traces of oil—if that would ever really go from his mind—Kagami stalks into the aforementioned part of his home and stands with arms akimbo.

“Gotta get to work on this,” he psyches himself up, pulling up his sleeves and gathering supplies to get the smell and stain of coconut oil and their combined ejaculation off his kitchen surfaces. Glancing down as he walked further in, he is almost impressed at the sheer puddle sizes of the liquids gathered there. He haphazardly distracts himself, starting on a random area—the counter—pouring out disinfectant and hell-bent on moving in clockwise motions right about then, when he remembers that he has not moved any of the items off said counter. Glancing to the side, he pauses at what he sees.

Kagami nudges the coconut oil jar away from the edge, eyes not moving away from it even though he should have been watching where all he was rubbing down the disinfectant. He paused, drawing away, resting his palms on the rim of the counter and sighed.

“You’re an ass,” he speaks to no one, staring at the glass jar.

The hum of the refrigerator is the only other noise in the kitchen which kick-starts suddenly. He glances at it briefly before looking back at the object. “I couldn’t take one spoonful of it today, you know.” He chuckles mirthfully, though it quickly ends bitterly. “What am I going to do now?”

He picks up the jar, heading to place it back where it belongs, and uses a smile that hurts his face and head. “I…I’ll bring Aomine to visit, one day,” he sets the jar in the cupboard, moving away, “And then you’ll actually win for once. When he thanks you, don’t fucking laugh!” He warns for added measure.

Kagami spends the rest of his time, muttering softly to himself and the nothingness in his kitchen, cleaning otherwise silently. As he finishes, his throat is dry and his mind is foggy, so he puts on the kettle, pulling out a familiar item that needed to be put away. And then, the first breech of the silence occurs. The kettle whistles as it automatically turns off and Kagami snaps his head towards it. Grabbing hold of the handle, he swings it closer, almost dangerously, and near the mug he was staring at, in all its black, red, and yellow glory.

The second breech of silence happens almost immediately.

He breaks the mug he was intending to use seconds away from pouring the hot water into it. Kagami stares at the pieces as though he could perform tasseomancy* on the mostly white shards. He reaches for the roll of tissue paper on the counter, pulling a few sheets and using them to clean off the mess he unwittingly made. He had spent some few minutes earlier cleaning after their rambunctious activities, but the smell of coconut oil was still present faintly in the air. Hopefully it would disappear completely after he makes lunch, but before then, Kagami is likely to be half-hard recounting how Aomine responded to every touch of his, of every thrust, or every nail-digging pressure… Kagami groans when he feels himself harden all over again.

To distract himself, he continued preparing a mug of tea for himself, willing the time he has to wait for Aomine to wake up. Just seconds before the kettle had finished its preordained task, he had stepped into the bath to set it up, watching as it automatically filled up before throwing the tub cover over it. Thinking to grab a book he had been meaning to read for a while—years in the making of sitting down to read it, more like it, but anything to take his mind off the void in his chest—he ambles slowly but determinedly into his room only to be pleasantly surprised to see a moody Aomine glancing about, muttering to himself, “I’m going to kill that fucking shit.” Far too amused at Aomine struggling to sit up and throw away the tightly tucked in covers, Kagami brings the mug to his lips, trying to look anything but entertained as he asks him:

“Talking about me?”

Aomine glares at him easily over his shoulder at Kagami.

“I’ve got a bath running for you,” he says in the end, drinking his piping hot tea calmly, watching as Aomine’s narrowed eyes trail after the action.

Seeing as Aomine dazes out in thought, Kagami moves closer, sitting on the bed edge and handing him the replacement blue mug he had been refraining from using; it was, after all, another reminder he had wanted to stay away from. Once again, Aomine has the careful aura about him, peering into the mug as if Kagami has poisoned it before, with shaking fingers, takes the blue mug from him. Kagami tries to distract himself with thoughts of how blue really looks nice on Aomine’s skin, but the next word from the pouting male makes him scoff.

“Thanks?”

Kagami turns away, looking away from Aomine, who behind him was observing every nook and cranny of the room. There was not much to see, Kagami only using his bedroom to sleep in. Noticing that the blinds were still closed and no light was illuminating the room, Kagami stood up, on the way his hands brushing against Aomine’s pallid one on the bed. Figuring that the light would blind the other, he studiously handled the pulley until the light only grazed Aomine’s knuckles. On the bed, with a short quirk of his lips, Aomine hides behind the blue mug, sipping cautiously. Kagami wants to tease the other about how he takes his profession too seriously, but Aomine draws away from the mug in surprise

“Tea?”

“What of it?” Kagami asked quietly, moving away from the window and to his dresser; Aomine will need clothes after his bath.

Aomine aborted whatever movement he was about to make, focusing more on his words then. “You seemed like the coffee kind of guy. Ya know?”

He struggled to focus on his actions, pulling clothes that should fit the leaner male, wondering if he had a new set of underclothes he could give the other, then thought of more devious things. He replied, almost absently, “I can drink tea some times. Besides…tea will work better for you than coffee right about now.”

Aomine jerked when Kagami looked over his shoulder at him. He walked with longer strides, covering the distance between his dresser and Aomine quickly, reaching out a hand. Aomine stared at it with a confused disposure, until Kagami sighed and tried to gently but firmly take away the mug, set it down behind him, and then with one smooth movement, got Aomine off the bed, holding the man up around his armpits. As Aomine struggled to settle into his grasp, Kagami managed to hold him around the torso tighter.

“Wha—” Aomine almost spat out.

Kagami looked up, firmly informing him, “I drew you a bath.” He locked eyes with Aomine, mouth agape. “We’re going there now.”

Carrying him in the most supine position that was comfortable to him, Kagami made quick work of reaching the bath, using his foot to unhinge the cover, allowing the hot vapour suddenly freed to fill the room.

It seemed the moist hot air was all that was needed to calm Aomine down, so Kagami lifted his legs. Aomine gasped, flinging his arms around his neck, clutching on desperately as though Kagami was about to vault him off a cliff. He held his breath (and the subsequent chuckle he knew Aomine would bite him for), slowly lowering Aomine into the tub.

Kagami watched him, the hiss escaping his mouth filling the air unbidden as the hot water lapped dark skin. For some reason, Aomine aborted the noise almost immediately when their eyes met, and by then, Kagami had fully placed Aomine into the hot water. It was maybe five minutes from the beginning of the soak when the soft and pleased sigh escaping kiss-bruised lips reaches Kagami’s ears. He smiles down at his hands still playing in the water, hiding away from Aomine’s sharp eyes. The other is too focused in the hot water easing his muscles to care about almost-smiles on Kagami’s face.

Wanting to get back that attention, Kagami asks in a low timbre that fails to echo in the bathroom, “Like that?”

Aomine blinks open his closed eyes, orbs tracking until they reach him. There is a question that Aomine opens his mouth, smiling, and then the question remains a wistful thought, and his lips fall short.  “Hmm,” he says instead.

Not allowing the terminated action bother him, Kagami shows Aomine the smile he hid earlier, and watches as Aomine’s eyes widen, mouth dropping softly open. They spend the rest of their time together, in the bathroom, in a dream-like state where nothing touched them.

 

* * *

 

 

Aomine dozes in and out of sleep after being dressed and fed, so Kagami uses this time to clean up after the feeding. He hums to himself, a nonsense tune that does not really have a tune, but anything is better than the silence enveloping him in the lonely kitchen. There is this urge to dump the dishes in the sink for soaking and curl up on the sofa with Aomine, letting the world pass them by until the next day, but he instils himself with some otherworldly patience, focusing on the chore at hand. Aomine stirs on the couch, probably sitting up for the oolong tea Kagami had left on the coffee table for him, and he smiled at the thought.

Then he hears the rustling of clothes and the sigh escaping a tired man, before Aomine’s voice carries out to him. “Thanks for breakfast and as much as I would like to roll back to sleep, I have to go now.”

Kagami pauses at the sink, the haze blinking away around him. “Ah, don’t bother.” The urge to dump the dishes was greater than before, almost forgetting to inform Aomine that he can remain in his trance-like mood. The words fail to pass through his lips before he can hear Aomine pad closer to him, and then place the mug on the counter top loudly.

“What do you mean? Unlike you, I have to be at work today.”

Kagami shrugs, trying to form the words in his mouth. Unfortunately for the two of them, what takes Kagami time to think, Aomine is quick to respond.  “What?” The tone he uses makes the hair on his neck bristle. “You think just because I’m not saving lives the way you do, it’s okay to miss a day here and there?” Kagami can almost hear the ‘ _you want a fight?!_ ’ behind those words. He frowns.

And again, before he can react, Aomine starts to move in a flurry of motions that make Kagami confused. “Where are you going?” He asks as Aomine starts stripping off the clothes he had just dressed the man in a couple of hours ago. The sight of the marked body from all their intense lovemaking makes something in Kagami burn. He flexes his fingers as Aomine ignores him, dropping Kagami’s clothes on the floor, bending at the waist when he finds his shirt from the previous day thrown in one corner of the living room. Kagami silently watches Aomine’s movements as he dusts the garment out then hunts for his jeans which were peeking around the passage. He picks them up for the other male, hoping to keep them hostage in the meantime as he tries to understand how fast the series of events led to Aomine being angry and pissed off at him. Kagami settles awkwardly on the edge of his sofa lounge, frowning, and Aomine comes back into sight.

“Give that to me, I need to leave.” Aomine waves one hand in Kagami’s face, but Kagami moved backwards, away from both the hand and the request.

“No. You can stay a bit—” he starts with, only to be cut off by a hissing Aomine.

“What are you on?!” His words are furious, and the anger of the previous evening that Kagami did not think he had was bubbling up in his chest. “I just told you I have to be at work. I’m not going to throw away my good reputation just because you aren’t done doing whatever it seems to be your objective of the day.” Aomine grabs at the jeans, them slipping out of slack, and faces away from Kagami as he dresses.

“I’m done with you.” Aomine says as suddenly as his mood is souring before Kagami. “You’re an idiot, an asshole, and I was a fool to think anything else! Seriously, what did I even see—”

“I did you a favour,” Kagami interrupts his tirade because he’s heard enough from Aomine, who now staggers in place.

Aomine turns around to face him, eyes blazing furiously. “What?”

“I got my lieutenant to inform your boss that we were working on fieldwork and putting together everything we have so far, from canvasing witness reports to sightings, to case files and incidents.” Kagami focuses on the facts and not his anger. He does not want to take out his grief onto Aomine who knows nothing of what Kagami is feeling now. Kagami himself does not know where his grief is taking him, but he does not want to let it get between the only thing keeping him in the here and now.

“…But we haven’t done that. What am I going to tell him if he asks for the report? ‘ _Oh, sorry, I left it with Kagami?_ ’ Like he’d believe that,” Aomine is ranting now.

_Please stop,_ Kagami watches blearily as Aomine paces, _don’t leave me alone right now_. “The report’s on the shoe cabinet,” he almost points out, haggling, “Take it on your way out.”

Aomine stiffened.

The man takes one large breath, as though trying to calm down, and Kagami thinks Aomine has changed his mind. “…You…could have just said to leave and I would have understood.”

The words are like a sucker punch. He straightens, confused, facial muscles feeling like they are twitching in shock. “…What?” _Why is this happening?_ “If I want you to leave, you’d know.”

Kagami closes his eyes when Aomine ends with: “Yea, so I’m leaving now, douche.”

He thinks he breaks down in that split second before he realises he is running away from his current problem. Kagami holds in the pain that makes him want to scream and shout, and maybe stomp his feet in agitation. So he sits up further, hands balled on his knees, and demands from Aomine, “What the fuck are you saying? When did I say you had to leave? You’re the one rushing to leave!”

“Just now!” Aomine snaps. 

There’s a moment of amusement where Aomine, in his frustration, cannot put his shirt on his arms, and Kagami wants to laugh. He wants to, but the feeling is not there. He wants to do so many things and for some reason, now, he wants to take his heart out and demand his head to work and—Aomine mocks him be repeating his words; “’ _You just take the report on the way out._ ’ I will ‘cause I’m leaving now!”

Deciding not to leave Aomine in charge of his own violent emotions, Kagami grabs hold of the arm still struggling to find leeway towards a sleeve. Aomine, not realising how frustrated he was at what Kagami had said, releases angry tears as he snarls and huffs, now trying to struggle away from Kagami. He trips, falling head first, but Kagami is there, catching him and pulling him backwards and into his lap, holding him secure against his chest.

“Why are you so difficult?” Kagami sounds like he wants to shout these words, but they are painfully soft, murmured unfairly at the crook of Aomine’s neck. Aomine shudders, in retaliation he elbows Kagami. He grabbed both of Aomine’s wrists, crossing them against their owner’s chest. Kagami does not want to force Aomine to remain, but Aomine is not listening to reason. There is some part of him telling him that he was doing no such reasoning, so _how can you expect him to understand?_ The voice sounds suspiciously not like him.

_Shut up, you fool…you’re dead and gone._

“You’re the difficult one!” Aomine snarls back between clenched teeth. “What happened to just being fuck buddies?” He spits out. “Why the fuck are you so possessive one moment and then blasé about our interaction the next?”

Kagami brings his lips close to Aomine’s neck, right on his pulse, hot and steady. He counts each erratic pulse in his neck, calming down from his high ire. Aomine, too, is concentrating more on breathing in and out, on the arms holding him, than he is shouting his head off. Kagami uses this time to piece together his thoughts, hoping Aomine does not do the opposite and starts mouthing off again.

But once again, Aomine proves him wrong.

“One moment you’re pushing me away from you after giving me some ‘service’, and the next you’re disinterested,” he starts with a low timbre, words that vibrate in Kagami’s ribcage. The pulse in Aomine’s neck is strong and quick, beating against his lips. “Then, you’re ‘ _you can do it if you try_ ’ and then you’re ‘ _I’ll fucking do you the way I want to’_?! What the actual fuck?!” Aomine was heaving and breathing harshly, hot drops on his arms making his eyes widen in concern. 

_Aomine…? Are you…_ And so Kagami makes use of his lips against Aomine’s skin, placing soft, gentle kisses from the junction of his neck and shoulder to the base of his jaw.

“Stop it,” Aomine pled, low, now outright sobbing, “Just stop playing me.”

Kagami lets out a slow stream of breath. “Shouldn’t those be my words?”

“Hah?!”

“Shouldn’t I be begging you not to play me? Aren’t you the seductress here? Cajoling me into this treacherous game where it’s easy for you to walk away from, but God forbid I invest anything in it, and it’ll be my downfall.” Kagami moved his lips to Aomine’s ear.

Aomine shivered in response, lips trembling out, “I’m not… I did no such thing.”

“Liar,” Kagami took Aomine’s earlobe into his mouth with his teeth, sucking it lightly, pulling at it, nipping it softly. “Every time I try to hurt you so that you never come back,” he said, tonguing the shivering man’s earlobe, “You just keep pushing back on to me. How am I supposed to take that message?” Kagami spread his thighs so that Aomine slipped further down, nestled between his firm hold. He crossed his ankles around Aomine’s, slowly strengthening his grasp around his body. “You know what I think, Aomine?” He asked, and Aomine let loose a sharp gasp as Kagami danced his fingers along deep set clavicles, dropping to the hollow at the base of his throat, and teasingly walked up the long column. “I think you like the rough sex.” Aomine held his breath. “You like being pushed down by me. See?” He continues and Aomine shifts in his hold, head moving around, but Kagami is keeping him safe in his arms and curls his feet while their entwined ankles are still locked together. “You’re already pushing back onto me.”

Aomine’s breathing is ragged, but his body is still tentatively pushing onto Kagami, almost enticing him. Aomine was hard again, pulling his hands free; Kagami wants to know what the other wants to do with his free hands. When Aomine does not do anything but passively sit, shoulders up to his ears, Kagami whispers, “I told you,” Aomine’s toes clench tightly into the lush carpet beneath his feet, arching into Kagami’s body, “For someone who’s so wantonly asking to be done, you’re being so difficult.”

“No,” Aomine’s soft voice was far from a denial, needy overtones, coloured darkly with lust.

“Yes,” Kagami retorts breathily, edging closer to Aomine, their skin mashed so close together, Kagami wonders if they can even separate at this rate. “So just give up. You’re already mine,”

Kagami’s let his fingers straighten out so that his whole palm was placed against Aomine’s neck, the nerves in his hand tingling, sensitive and hot as Aomine literally burned in a slow fever. The man was stiff—he could feel him solid in his lap—but still soft in the way he was gently rocking in his lap, pressing against the support he was providing Aomine’s neck. In fact, when Aomine pushed his head forward to lean against the hand around his throat, Kagami was instantly taken aback. _Is he into this kind of play?_ A low sound from the back of Aomine’s throat sent delightfully sinful shivers down Kagami’s back, and the blood from his head went straight to his groin. He was really losing so much control. He needed to get it back again.

Lips planting to the side of Aomine’s neck, he almost hums out, “Patience, Aomine…I’ll give you everything you want. I told you,” he decides to play to Aomine’s desires, tightening his hand around the relatively slender neck, and tucks Aomine firmly into his body.

The words he speaks next are so sure, he believes every word of it; he is going to stop doubting Aomine, and he is going to stop falling to his own insecurities. Aomine himself would not let Kagami live through it without severe regret.

“You’re mine, and I take care of my things.”

 

* * *

 

 

Kagami wants to drop his jaw open wide so that he can falsely yawn in their faces as he would have done weeks prior, but this time, he sits still and listens. There is a person missing in this group of people and his eyes easily fill the hole he can still see without looking. The words they speak are the same, have been the same for over the years, and now, it seems like he would not get away from it unless he agrees.

“What do you want?” He cuts in finally, the first words after, “Stop pushing me; I can walk by myself.” He can feel his facial muscles stiffening in remorse. “What do you want me to do?” He reiterates.

There are wide hopeful smiles on their faces, and the youngest of them all—the candidate who should not really care for this topic, to Kagami’s annoyance—pushes something that catches his attention right in front of his chest. He takes the paper a little hesitantly, but the moment he recognises the handwriting ( _“Why can’t you write your ‘te’s in the proper manner?! And you say my Japanese is bad!” “But it is, you foreigner!! You still can’t spell ‘Marunouchi’ and it_ only _has the simplest characters to begin with!” “They both look the same!”_ ), he cannot help but laugh hysterically.

No one says anything until he calms down. It is Kawasaki who puts into perspective what Kagami wants to ask but cannot find the words to. “He wrote it up and planned to wrestle you into signing it.” The young man smiles shrewdly. “Well, if wrestling you wouldn’t work, we were just going to steal into your house and use your _jitsuin_ *.”

Kagami laughs again, tears of hilarity slipping free. He wipes the corner of one eye, saying, “You bastards are priceless; what happened to what I want, damn it?”

They spend a few more minutes jostling him into agreeing to bring his registered seal in so that they can submit the application for him (“I can also do my own submission, you know,” he says, but they refuse him on the grounds that the application will never see the light of day again.) and they deem it enough to walk out of the conference room they wrangled the use of. Kagami puts his deceased friend’s smiling face out of his mind when the volunteer candidate—who is as young as a boy with that shy smile on his face—in the group turns to ask him something.

“Why don’t you want to be a lieutenant?” He asks Kagami. “Are you just scared of failing?”

“Idiot,” Kagami drops his palm heavily on the boy’s head, mussing up his hair, “Not that it will be easy, but I know I can ace this stupid exam.” He grins, putting more weight into his action, but the boy just laughs it off, “Have you seen how much paperwork there is to do? I hate writing in kanji.”

“Ah, they said you were an American—” the boy starts to say, but Kagami stops the utterance by slapping the boy’s back, hard. He mussed his hair again, for good measure, pushing him away.

One of the other fire fighters scowls at him, smacking him on the back while passing, "Kagami, we aren't giving you a choice: we're telling you to take the fucking exam and do the fucking paperwork. You're already doing everything a lieutenant is, and it’s a shame you're not getting paid for it."

Kagami mock frowns at them, then slyly adds, “Just remember that when I pass the exam, you can’t disagree with me when I make you do more drills and do my paperwork for me.” They all groan, but Kagami reaches for the candidate again, hand in a vice claw grip, but he springs away, patting his hair back in place.

“I think we’re making a huge mistake, senpai,” the candidate says to the others watching and laughing at Kagami’s antics.

“Too late!” Kagami bellows, hands on his hips, throwing his head back to laugh, but he is interrupted.

“Kagami!”

Kagami turns to face his lieutenant, walking forward, only to stagger at the panicked expression the elder male wore. “What’s going on?”

There are obvious tears of relief in the man’s eyes as he cries out, “You have got to stop hanging around these scary guys!” Kagami sucks in his cheeks to stop the surprised burst of laughter that wants to erupt from unchecked lips. “Especially that  _junsa*_!”

“Aomine’s here?” Kagami asked, pleasantly stunned, eyes already looking away from the lieutenant for the aforementioned man.

“Was here,” his lieutenant stumbles with jerking his thumb behind him, in the general direction of the apparatus bay. “He just took off when you came out.” There is a pause, where the man lets loose a pout, almost whining when he adds, “And to think he even waited for you to come out.” Kagami, for his part, had stopped listening, frowning as he turns to face the open bay, watching as multitudes of his colleagues participated in drills and cleaning duties.

“You said he just left?” Kagami interrupted the still whining man.

The lieutenant passed off a concerned look that Kagami let slide; the man was forever worried he was up to no good with Aomine. “Yea, just a few seconds ago.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in emphasis again.

“Thanks,” Kagami threw out quickly, body already moving to the bay entrance. He does not realise a grin in slowly blossoming on his face, but it is there, inching upwards, taking over his face. Some of his colleagues spare him odd looks. Kagami ignores everyone, gathering speed to trot faster, and not before long, he can see Aomine exiting the main street junction the firehouse shares with various other government offices. “Aomine!” He tries his luck, bellowing loudly over the noise the firehouse makes.

Aomine barely reacts, already turning the bend, disappearing into the back streets of the closest residential section on their block.

Kagami follows suit, hand automatically going for his radio in case of a call, and runs with thunderous strides hoping to catch up to Aomine before it is too late. Every inch of his body and mind want to know why Aomine dropped by and why he decided not to stick around. _Did someone say something to him again?_  He rounds the corner easily, slipping past the light foot traffic and a few short meters ahead, Aomine’s dark head bobs up and down above all the others on the narrowing street. _But he isn’t the type to let it slide or—_ Kagami almost crashes into a young man holding too many bags for it to be safe, but he could care less at this point— _he’d just snap their heads off for trying to incite him!_

Aomine is near gliding on his feet down the residential path, fists clenched and shoulders tight with tension. Kagami rarely sees this outside of the bedroom, where Aomine is desperately trying to gather his bearings, trying to breathe, pleading for more, that Kagami thinks it is almost weird seeing it while the other is still in clothes—his uniform!—and in broad daylight. It almost makes Kagami berate himself for being a closet exhibitionist, wanting to drag Aomine to a convenient wall and get away with doing the man thoroughly before they both have to get back to work.

“Aomine, you bastard! Wait up!”

This time, Aomine does react. Only, he actually kicks up his feet, running away.

Kagami halts for the barest of moments, _what just—_ and takes off after him, faster than his jog earlier. Since he was already moving quickly, he reaches Aomine with an outstretched arm, forcibly making them both halt by slamming against the wall of a quaint detached villa.

“Idiot!” Aomine winces, clutching at his shoulder, “That fucking hurt!”

“Well, yea,” Kagami groaned, straightening away from the wall, “I told you to stop.” He glanced over at Aomine who was looking away from him, dusting off his uniform and checking his shirt, making sure it was still tucked in like it was supposed to be. Unconsciously Kagami licks his dry lips and takes his eyes off the other man. “And? What happened to you?”

“Hm?” Aomine peeped at him from under his arm that was still patting his shirt in place, without turning around. “Nothing. I was in a hurry.” Whatever expression that managed to come onto Kagami’s face made Aomine scowl. “What, its true!” He swivelled on his heel to point at Kagami aggressively. “I don’t have all day to be flirting with young little things on the side, you know!”

A few seconds of silence passed. Aomine, as though realising what his words could be taken for, blushed in embarrassment and made to turn away again. This time, Kagami’s arm shot out and grasped firmly on his shoulder. “Don’t,” he said, watching red-rimmed eyes widen, “Don’t look away from me.” Kagami’s voice sounded weird even to him. “And I think you were mistaken; I wasn’t flirting.” His lips slipped, smiling softly now. “The only young thing I would be flirting with was running away from me a few seconds back.”

Aomine was not impressed. Folding his arms across his chest, he made it very apparent. “I’m not that young. And stop trying to appease me, you big oaf.”

Kagami chuckled, knowing he caught Aomine.

“And if you weren’t flirting, the heck were you doing?”

And this was something he did not understand. “Yea, like I said, when was this?” He honestly could not recall what he had been doing that Aomine interpreted as flirting of all things. Did he not know that Kagami was seen as the unusual Westerner in their branch? Whenever there was a conference or training on politeness or public service, Kagami was signed up for it without his consent.

“Just now, when you were in the conference room.” The expressions on Aomine’s face were warring against each other, unable to decide if it wanted to settle into a frown, a pout, or just plain old anger. “What were you doing there?”

At this, Kagami could only blink, then duck his head in discomfiture. “Ahh…that.”

Aomine glared at him.

Sucking in air, he gruffly huffed out, “That was the committee in charge of making me sign up for the Lieutenant Exam that’s coming up.” It was comical how Aomine’s face fell. “Honestly man, what did you think was happening in a room full of fire fighters?” Turning his face further into his chest, he said, “There’s not a single decent man left there.”

Not paying attention, he does not realise Aomine dart into his personal space and catch his nape in a strong grip. Kagami’s eyes immediately took in the furrow on his forehead before dropping down to the concerned blues narrowing their stare at him. He kept his sight steady, willing himself not to lose out and turn his face away, no matter how hard his heart was beating in its bone cage, and how his eyes were suspiciously starting to tear.

“You telling the truth?” Aomine’s voice is soft. Kagami is almost transported back into his home, holding a very naked Aomine undulating in his grasp. “That there’s no one else?”

Kagami does not bother using his words. Imitating the hold Aomine has on his neck, he pulls the other closer fast, knocking their foreheads together. Aomine scowls at him, but does not back down. “I told you.”

Aomine’s hard gaze still does not let up.

“I’ll give you everything you want.”

A beat goes by. Kagami loses count of the harsh heartbeat, the still air in his lungs, the sweat starting to gather at his temples. A slow mocking smile grows on Aomine’s face, hot blue eyes now a cold steel. “Yea?” Aomine voice goes up to a falsetto as he asks this question.

Kagami freezes; he does not like that tone.

“Even if I say I don’t want you anymore?”

He does not get to react because Aomine is already pushing both of them away, his smile that is now burning itself into the back of his mind to never be forgotten is the only thing Kagami can see of Aomine, long before he realises that Aomine was gone.

The static of the call coming on the radio breaks Kagami from his shocked daze. Stiffly, on autopilot at this point, he pulls the radio to his mouth, “This is Kagami, pick me up at the junction. Over.” The word feels raw in his mouth. It feels like this was what he had been warning himself from the very beginning, for the time Aomine decides he was done with playing their game.

“Roger that,” comes a voice on the radio. Kagami bitterly turns around, facing the bustle of the junction he has to reach sooner rather than later, but his body feels unnaturally heavy. He runs a dry tongue over his teeth and closes his eyes, a hand roughly drags stiff-jointed fingers through his hair.

Just when he decides to let go of his inhibitions, they all come back, dragging him under again.

 

* * *

 

** Translations and other Notes: **

 

**Tasseomancy (Tasseography/Tassology):** Fortune-telling or Divining with tea leaves, coffee grounds, wine lees (wine sediments).

 

**丸の内** — name read as “Marunouchi”, vaguely meaning “inner circle” (actual place in Tokyo. One of the police stations that are in Marunouchi near the Imperial Palace). The beginning and ending characters when hand-written with quick strokes, they look absolutely the same. It was one of my own horrible moments when learning.

 

**Jitsuin** : the registered seal that Japanese use for important and binding signing purposes. They have a separate one for bank-use ( ** _ginkō-in_** ) and another for daily, non-important use like deliveries ( ** _mitome-in_** ). It is colloquially called “hanko” (which is the stamp object-thing and not the impression of the stamp/sign), though, which most must be familiar with.

 

**Junsa** : Police officer.

 

* * *

 

**Author’s Note:**   After the long wait, I wonder if this makes you hate me…I, myself, was disappointed with the way it went, so I took time off the story hoping it would change its tune. This, unfortunately for many of you, was always going to be the ending of _this part_ of the series.

 

I couldn’t see Aomine sitting around waiting for Kagami to wise up and tell him how he felt. (If it was not noticeable, you could see how Kagami perceived his actions compared to Aomine in the last two chapters…I was trying to play on the fact that what we think someone else is doing isn’t really the same as what _they_ _think_ they are doing…) ;___;

 

Comments and reviews are appreciated, no matter the content. (I’m actually preparing myself for the hate T___T.)

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the opener of the next series. The plan is for three more parts (but then again, how often does a plan work out, right?), and updates are...as often as I can. ~~The second part is done, though.~~
> 
> Reviews and comments are greatly appreciated!! :D


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